Together # 55
A Together of Battle
A Together of Battle
Die for One Another
copyright by Dick Wulf, 2018
Lay your life on the line for other Christians. Risk reputation, financial security and anything necessary in order to help. Let go of the idols of safety, comfort and pleasure. Enter further into eternal life.
John 12:23-25; John 15:12-14; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Phil 3:7-11;
Heb 13:14-16; 1 Tim 6:17-19; 1 Peter 2:20-21; 1 John 3:16
We know that we are to love one another, to deny ourselves for the good of others. That is the meaning of the New Testament’s main word for love, which is agape. As are all of the Togethers, this one to die for one another is an application of the all-inclusive Together “Love One Another”. In fact, it is the utmost of love, called by Jesus “greater love” than any other form of love
“Greater love has no one than this,
that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
Jesus made this declaration just hours before dying on the cross for us. He was expanding on the new commandment He had given the disciples to love one another as He had loved them. Take a look at this admonition in context. He was about to actually die, or lay down his life, for them. And for us.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
John 15:12-14
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The important point in laying down our lives for one another is that we die to something in our lives that we do not pick back up for the duration that another Christian needs it to be dead in us. And we do it willingly.
We are already dead to our sins, and we work on perfecting our salvation by turning away from sins that hang onto our old self. We allow our new self, our new creation in Christ, to emerge more and more in our lives. This is not laying down our lives for one another, it is accepting and acting on the fact that we are already dead to our sins and alive in Jesus Christ.
We are already dead to our sins, and we work on perfecting our salvation by turning away from sins that hang onto our old self. We allow our new self, our new creation in Christ, to emerge more and more in our lives. This is not laying down our lives for one another, it is accepting and acting on the fact that we are already dead to our sins and alive in Jesus Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:20
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So, in understanding what it means to die for one another, let’s recognize that we get rid of sin for God. Even though dying to sin also benefits Christians in our lives, it is not this Together of dying for one another which mirrors Jesus’ death on the cross. (Jesus had no sin to put to death.) Jesus is saying in His most intimate upper room talk that the disciples were to love one another as He had done consistently as they traveled and lived together. But, there would be times they would need to love to the extreme and lay down their lives for one another, not in the way of eliminating sin but by giving up comfort, safety, and pleasure to be there for one another.
This dying for one another goes far beyond the daily kind of love we should extend to one another. This is exceptional love that is called for in drastic circumstances. We may deny ourselves some luxury to help a friend in need, but this greatest expression of love is more like diving on top of a grenade to save the lives of our friends.
Most likely we will never have the opportunity to physically die for a Christian friend, family member or spouse, but there may be ways that we choose to put to death some part of ourselves for those in our Christian Inner Circles. Here are some examples.
This dying for one another goes far beyond the daily kind of love we should extend to one another. This is exceptional love that is called for in drastic circumstances. We may deny ourselves some luxury to help a friend in need, but this greatest expression of love is more like diving on top of a grenade to save the lives of our friends.
Most likely we will never have the opportunity to physically die for a Christian friend, family member or spouse, but there may be ways that we choose to put to death some part of ourselves for those in our Christian Inner Circles. Here are some examples.
a) We may have to act for another Christian’s good and face a little more danger. In such a case we would die to safety. For example, Christians in a dangerous neighborhood might stand up to the gangs on behalf of themselves and others and expose themselves to possible retaliation.
b) We all have potential that will be undeveloped this side of heaven because we cannot do everything of which we are capable and should want to do only what God has assigned. So, we will have to set aside some talents, skills, hobbies, sports, and projects in order to have time and money needed by God and other people. c) We may be asked by God to do something righteous that will cut off opportunities that we want. For example, one of us might stand up for another Christian who is treated very unfairly at work and anger those who give out promotions. (Fortunately, we will lose almost nothing since at least 99% of our opportunities will happen in heaven.) d) We may at some time obey a Scripture that will tarnish our reputation for a long time. For example, we may anger relatives who want us to stop going to church, get drunk with them, not gossip, or something else. |
As another example, in 1983 God assigned me to invent a Christian youth discipleship fantasy role-playing game we called DragonRaid. Although thousands came to know Jesus as their Savior through it, because of opposition by the far right one-percent of Christianity I was called the “antichrist” on a national radio program and both praised and criticized in Christian media. Soon thereafter a televangelist, later to disgrace himself, put our company $700,000 in debt and we had to go out of business.
Another time a pastor I had never met was being disciplined for his extra-marital relationship with the church secretary and eventually left his family and ran off with her. He had told the church board that he was being counseled by me, and they dealt with him lightly because I had such a good reputation. When I eventually met the pastor who replaced him and easily saw that he had contempt for me, I asked why he did not like me. I then learned that he had spread throughout the Colorado Springs community that I was such a horrible counselor that no one should use me. When I assured him that I had never even met this pastor, the new pastor felt very ashamed of what he had done. Up to that point I could not figure out why I went from having a waiting list for my services to hardly being able to keep my schedule full. Unfortunately, there was no way to reverse what had been done and my caseload has never been full for over 20 years since. Ironically, I had been obedient to God and my good reputation led to a bad reputation. |
e) We may be called by God to a life of less financial security than we want. For example, any of us could be on a fast track for promotion and a higher salary and be called by God to something else He wants us to do that brings in far less income. Instead of relying on a substantial bank account, we would have to learn to trust Him and end out our days without a recreational retirement or living in a good assisted-living facility.
f) We may need to act for the good of another and lose permanently some aspect of physical vitality. For example, there might be that rare occasion when we would lay down our life to keep another from harm and be permanently injured. Or we might do some recreational activity with our children and have an accident that leaves us without the full use of some body part. g) We may have to cut off some friends we truly enjoyed because of circumstances beyond our control. By making one person a top priority, we may have to set aside another cherished relationship. This happens all the time when a couple divorce. Often their friends have to emotionally support one party and limit or end the relationship with the “ex” husband or wife. h) We will all definitely let go of some recreation to serve the Lord and be available to one another. For example, a father will give up lake fishing when there is not enough money to send his kids off to college and also maintain a boat. i) We all need to give up our exaggerated need for privacy. This may be the biggest transformation in most Christians who decide to lay down their lives for others. So many of the Togethers require transparency and risk. Privacy gets in the way of so many powerful spiritual things such as confessing sins, asking for help in some way or other, discipling others, to name only a few. |
Laying down important things in our lives for the good of others may seem like more than we want to do at times. However, it is one of the greatest of privileges because it is the thing we can do that is so much like the most wonderful thing Jesus has done for us.
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez have 4 children and live a modest life in Philadelphia. Being middle income, they were able to have some nice things and go on a vacation every couple of years.
Then one of the children, Marcos, age 7, came down with a serious medical condition. Insurance would not cover the whole cost and the family could not even come close to paying their portion of the hospital and doctor bills. Further procedures were needed, but were not available until the Sanchez Family could show they could pay. They needed $35,000 that their insurance would not cover. Of course, all of their close friends and relatives knew of the situation. First, Xavier and Aria Gonzalez gave them $2,000, saying that they wanted to lay down their lives as Jesus had done for them. This information spread throughout the two Christian Inner Circles of Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez. Many people found ways to sacrifice some expenditure to donate money. But, they were still $20,000 short of what was needed. Then the Anderson Family, known through Mr. Sanchez’ work, decided to remortgage their house for $20,000 more than was owed. They said giving this money to the Sanchez Family was the greatest privilege of their lives. They wanted to walk in Jesus’ shoes with some very real sacrifice. |
Jesus laid down His life for us, so whenever we make a life-altering sacrifice for one another, we grow to be more like our Lord and Savior.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
1 John 3:16
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
1 John 3:16
Although such decisions to let go of something we really want for the sake of someone we love sometimes bring disappointment and pain, we can look at them as great gain in becoming more like Jesus. Much valuable sanctification requires voluntary suffering. Dying, or laying down our lives, for one another is profitable suffering. For the sake of Jesus as well as our future in heaven, we should seek this kind of expensive growth of our spirits through suffering.
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
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1 Peter 2:20-21
It is natural that we all have dreams, a few of which are off the mark of what God knows is best for us. Probably all of us want a completely peaceful and trouble-free life. God knows the “completely” part is not good for us because our spirits cannot grow sufficiently without suffering.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Rom 5:3-5
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Laying down our lives for one another is this kind of beneficial suffering.
We want money in the bank – lots of it. We want to have nice things and recreational experiences. We want to be always understood, even though communication is one of the most difficult things in the world directed by speech which the Bible labels as “untamable” (James 3:6-8). We want popularity, even though disapproval, scorn, or even persecution is more probable because of our faith.
Jesus could have had it all – money, things, recreational experiences, and popularity that was not controversial and unstable. With miracles on demand He could have ended up in a palace as did Joseph in Egypt. If He turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana, then He could have made gold from fig leaves. As for popularity, if He kept his miracles entertaining and left out the demanding sermons, He would have been more fantastic than any circus ever. So, why didn’t He?
Love. For us. Jesus came with a purpose – to lay down His life for us. A greater love, He said, does not exist.
We want money in the bank – lots of it. We want to have nice things and recreational experiences. We want to be always understood, even though communication is one of the most difficult things in the world directed by speech which the Bible labels as “untamable” (James 3:6-8). We want popularity, even though disapproval, scorn, or even persecution is more probable because of our faith.
Jesus could have had it all – money, things, recreational experiences, and popularity that was not controversial and unstable. With miracles on demand He could have ended up in a palace as did Joseph in Egypt. If He turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana, then He could have made gold from fig leaves. As for popularity, if He kept his miracles entertaining and left out the demanding sermons, He would have been more fantastic than any circus ever. So, why didn’t He?
Love. For us. Jesus came with a purpose – to lay down His life for us. A greater love, He said, does not exist.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
John 15:13
Since our purpose now before death (and even afterward) is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29), we should want to pursue laying down our lives for our friends. And, let us remember that laying down our lives requires dying to some aspect of life for the long haul. It is dying for the good of one another once and for all. Jesus laid His life down for us once and for all.
Laying down our lives for one another in the fashion of Jesus is voluntarily dying in some way for the good of one another. For example, we might sacrifice a vacation to Hawaii and never be able to go there in the future.
If a child gets in trouble at school and his or her parents have to take off work to meet with school officials, that is life being taken from the parents to a small extent. It is technically not the parents laying down their lives. Going to that difficult meeting can be valuable love. In contrast, if those same parents see in their child the desire and talent for some sport and decide to give up their Saturdays and many weeknight evenings to support practice sessions and contests, they are voluntarily laying down their lives for what might be a long, long time.
Here in Colorado Springs, Colorado we have the World Arena where some of the most talented ice skating participants prepare for competition. Some parents who see superior skill in one of their children move thousands of miles to live here so that the child might practice under some of the best skating coaches in the world. They commit to taking their child to practice sessions in the middle of the night, still having to go to work after the sun rises. Brothers and sisters change schools for the potential fame of this sibling. All are acting like Jesus who gave up all the ease of life and ministered healing from dawn past dusk day after day.
If a close Christian friend tells us that something we do just rubs him or her the wrong way and we stop, that is ordinary, yet valuable, love. That decision to give up the offending behavior for the life of the friendship can approach laying down life for the good of another if done without resentment. But, it would be even more dying for the friend if that something that bothered another was given up forever without it ever being brought up by the friend.
Christian family members can help one another lay down their lives for one another in many powerful ways. Misbehavior can be explained as not good for the family and individual family members. Family members can be shown how giving up misbehavior is laying down their lives for the good of others and honors God.
God has designed each of us differently, and this gives us daily opportunities to die to our favorite way of doing things. For example, some us were designed by God to prefer lives with structure and order. However, He also designed just as many to prefer more spontaneity and freedom. The two types often marry one another and can argue and fight rather than lay down their preferred way of living up so that both people can be authentic to God’s design.
For example, one spouse can control the common life of a marriage by either requiring every Saturday be all planned out or be completely spontaneous. This robs one partner in the marriage from living the way God intended to be natural for her or him. If dominance in the marriage is with the planning, orderly spouse, the free and spontaneous spouse will be unhappy. Conflict may occur or that person may become depressed. If dominance goes with the free-spirited spouse, there will likely be conflict with the spouse who likes to plan because he or she cannot get done what he or she wants to do. In either case, the spouse who controls Saturdays has the chance to be more like Jesus in the sense of living for the other spouse’s enjoyment. This would mean laying down his or her way of life at least 50 percent of the time on Saturdays for a very long time.
This difference in planning versus spontaneity is only one of many differences that give Christian friends, family members and spouses opportunities to die to themselves in some way for the good of one another.
There is another way in which by dying for one another we can become more like Jesus. Jesus owned nothing in order to make himself totally available to others.
Laying down our lives for one another in the fashion of Jesus is voluntarily dying in some way for the good of one another. For example, we might sacrifice a vacation to Hawaii and never be able to go there in the future.
If a child gets in trouble at school and his or her parents have to take off work to meet with school officials, that is life being taken from the parents to a small extent. It is technically not the parents laying down their lives. Going to that difficult meeting can be valuable love. In contrast, if those same parents see in their child the desire and talent for some sport and decide to give up their Saturdays and many weeknight evenings to support practice sessions and contests, they are voluntarily laying down their lives for what might be a long, long time.
Here in Colorado Springs, Colorado we have the World Arena where some of the most talented ice skating participants prepare for competition. Some parents who see superior skill in one of their children move thousands of miles to live here so that the child might practice under some of the best skating coaches in the world. They commit to taking their child to practice sessions in the middle of the night, still having to go to work after the sun rises. Brothers and sisters change schools for the potential fame of this sibling. All are acting like Jesus who gave up all the ease of life and ministered healing from dawn past dusk day after day.
If a close Christian friend tells us that something we do just rubs him or her the wrong way and we stop, that is ordinary, yet valuable, love. That decision to give up the offending behavior for the life of the friendship can approach laying down life for the good of another if done without resentment. But, it would be even more dying for the friend if that something that bothered another was given up forever without it ever being brought up by the friend.
Christian family members can help one another lay down their lives for one another in many powerful ways. Misbehavior can be explained as not good for the family and individual family members. Family members can be shown how giving up misbehavior is laying down their lives for the good of others and honors God.
God has designed each of us differently, and this gives us daily opportunities to die to our favorite way of doing things. For example, some us were designed by God to prefer lives with structure and order. However, He also designed just as many to prefer more spontaneity and freedom. The two types often marry one another and can argue and fight rather than lay down their preferred way of living up so that both people can be authentic to God’s design.
For example, one spouse can control the common life of a marriage by either requiring every Saturday be all planned out or be completely spontaneous. This robs one partner in the marriage from living the way God intended to be natural for her or him. If dominance in the marriage is with the planning, orderly spouse, the free and spontaneous spouse will be unhappy. Conflict may occur or that person may become depressed. If dominance goes with the free-spirited spouse, there will likely be conflict with the spouse who likes to plan because he or she cannot get done what he or she wants to do. In either case, the spouse who controls Saturdays has the chance to be more like Jesus in the sense of living for the other spouse’s enjoyment. This would mean laying down his or her way of life at least 50 percent of the time on Saturdays for a very long time.
This difference in planning versus spontaneity is only one of many differences that give Christian friends, family members and spouses opportunities to die to themselves in some way for the good of one another.
There is another way in which by dying for one another we can become more like Jesus. Jesus owned nothing in order to make himself totally available to others.
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Matt 8:20 and Luke 9:58
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Matt 8:20 and Luke 9:58
Therefore, whenever we empty out some of our resources for an urgent need of another we are dying to that security or enjoyment and becoming a little more like our Lord. All those in our Christian Inner Circle could die financially in the sense of putting every member's own financial security on the line to give sacrificially for someone unemployed. Scripture makes it clear that the church should have a vital part in making certain that everyone's financial needs are met. The first century church was known by all because they liquidated assets whenever there was a critical need among the believers.
Letting go of things we treasure too highly or depend on too heavily for security is a way of knowing the Savior of our Souls more and more. This is included in the following passage which is full of too much spiritual truth to cover here.
Letting go of things we treasure too highly or depend on too heavily for security is a way of knowing the Savior of our Souls more and more. This is included in the following passage which is full of too much spiritual truth to cover here.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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Phil 3:7-11
Let’s be vigilant in identifying things we can give up because doing so will make us a bit more like Jesus. Let’s be willing to give up some of our preferences so that others can glorify God by their own design. Let’s also give up more and more of this world to take hold of the real life that is spiritual and not of this world.
Opportunity to Worship God
Opportunity to Worship God
Isaiah and Niki recently discovered that hospitality was a way to worship God. They were sure that the Lord wanted them to open their home to many of the poorer people in their African American church. They explained to God in prayer that they did not have the extra money needed. While they were successful and without children yet, they had purchased too many things. Their apartment was very nicely furnished and they did not want to invite people in for cheap meals. They wanted people who came to feel really valued. And they wanted to do it weekly. 52 meals for hospitality would cost quite a bit and they were overextended financially.
But, they wanted to worship God through hospitality. The answer came to them when they learned that to die for one another was an even more potent form of worship. As a result, they sold their expensive car, bought a much less expensive car, and saved over $300 a month in car payments. This would do. They began inviting Christians from their church, Christians they knew from work, unbelieving people and even homeless men and families into their home. |
Each time we sacrificially lay down our lives for one another we reflect back to God the Father the selfless act of Jesus His Son when He willingly died for us. And in loving God enough to take something out of our lives for the good of His children, we ascribe worth to Him.
Jesus did what God wanted done when He laid down His life.
Jesus did what God wanted done when He laid down His life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
In the same way, God wants us to do what He asks, and sometimes that is to lay down our lives for one another.. If God’s love for us was so strong that He asked His only begotten Son to die a horrible death, God’s love for those in our Christian Inner Circles will once in a while ask us to give up things we cherish for their good. When we obey, we act like God is worth our doing His bidding. Jesus certainly treated the Father who sent Him to die as worth everything, even His life.
We can develop our spirits to hang on to God more than to things in our life when God needs them for others.
We can develop our spirits to hang on to God more than to things in our life when God needs them for others.
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
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2 Cor 5:14-1
Does the love of Christ control us? We want to yield to the Holy Spirit so that our spirits are controlled by Jesus, not by love of ourselves, our things, or our time.
Too many people have heard a gospel that only addresses what God can do for them. They heard that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sins, that they can be forgiven and go to heaven. This is only half the story. Why were we not told that the best news is that Jesus made a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit possible? Why wasn’t the opportunity to have Jesus live in us that we might live for God included? Why did church leaders not tell us of the opportunity to suffer and fight Satan?
Too many people have heard a gospel that only addresses what God can do for them. They heard that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sins, that they can be forgiven and go to heaven. This is only half the story. Why were we not told that the best news is that Jesus made a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit possible? Why wasn’t the opportunity to have Jesus live in us that we might live for God included? Why did church leaders not tell us of the opportunity to suffer and fight Satan?
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, . . Phil 1:29
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Dying to self for the work of God in this world is clearly suffering for the sake of Jesus. Laying down our lives for one another is living for God rather than always just for ourselves and our own interests. It is worship. We must not be among those whose salvation is self-seeking. There is everything to be gained in laying down our lives for one another.
Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Matt 19:27-30
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Clearly, if we put ourselves first before God, we will find ourselves last when the good things of heaven are passed out. But, if we give up things we cherish, if we die for one another in this sense, we will be first to receive much more than we gave up when we get to heaven.
We must not have an attitude that God is for us and we do not need to be there for Him. If we do not leave “houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands” if Jesus needs them (“for my name's sake”), we lose big. Certainly, leaving any one of these things is putting some very important part of ourselves to death. And, in most cases the Lord will ask us to leave these things for the benefit of other believers.
We can be sure that Jesus is not telling us to turn our backs of our children, parents and siblings, but to make them less priority than God and what He needs from us. In most cases, living for God means living for brothers or sisters or father or mother or children. But there will be times when our Lord needs us for some service to Him and we will not respond because of brothers or sisters or father or mother or children. At those moments, God needs to be priority and we must lay down our lives with respect to those relationships.
Suppose a new believer asks to be discipled, something that involves seeing faith, not just teaching and counsel. The request is coming from a man who readily admits that he is not a good father. One camping trip has been planned, an annual trip that is really cherished. But, this Christian neophyte needs to observe good fathering. If this father cannot plan a second camping trip and has to get his children to agree to have this stranger come along, our disciplining father is laying his life down for a fellow believer. And so are the children. It is costly, is a little like Jesus’ sacrifice, and is therefore great worship. On the camping trip their father will be doing his best job to show the other father how to be a better father, and that, too, will be worship because it reflects God’s nature to show us how to live successfully.
How will this father explain that it is good to share a camping trip with another so that he can be a better father? He can explain to his children that there is a life after Christians die that is more important than this life. He can tell them that heaven is their real home. He will put this life in biblical perspective. That will be great education in the faith for his kids.
We must not have an attitude that God is for us and we do not need to be there for Him. If we do not leave “houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands” if Jesus needs them (“for my name's sake”), we lose big. Certainly, leaving any one of these things is putting some very important part of ourselves to death. And, in most cases the Lord will ask us to leave these things for the benefit of other believers.
We can be sure that Jesus is not telling us to turn our backs of our children, parents and siblings, but to make them less priority than God and what He needs from us. In most cases, living for God means living for brothers or sisters or father or mother or children. But there will be times when our Lord needs us for some service to Him and we will not respond because of brothers or sisters or father or mother or children. At those moments, God needs to be priority and we must lay down our lives with respect to those relationships.
Suppose a new believer asks to be discipled, something that involves seeing faith, not just teaching and counsel. The request is coming from a man who readily admits that he is not a good father. One camping trip has been planned, an annual trip that is really cherished. But, this Christian neophyte needs to observe good fathering. If this father cannot plan a second camping trip and has to get his children to agree to have this stranger come along, our disciplining father is laying his life down for a fellow believer. And so are the children. It is costly, is a little like Jesus’ sacrifice, and is therefore great worship. On the camping trip their father will be doing his best job to show the other father how to be a better father, and that, too, will be worship because it reflects God’s nature to show us how to live successfully.
How will this father explain that it is good to share a camping trip with another so that he can be a better father? He can explain to his children that there is a life after Christians die that is more important than this life. He can tell them that heaven is their real home. He will put this life in biblical perspective. That will be great education in the faith for his kids.
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
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Heb 13:14-16
We can resist this dying for one another and quench the work of God in our lives. Or we can make Jesus Himself more important than our desires for anything else, especially our old lives that died. If we have come to Jesus Christ and allowed His death to pay for our sins, we have died to ourselves and now live in Him. We have already passed from death into life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life
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John 5:24
And He lives in us and at times wants to do something through us that requires us to die in some way to our desires. This would be to benefit those He loves in our Christian Inner Circles, even occasionally for someone outside of that close group, perhaps an unbeliever. Jesus did not die for us just to bless our desires. He purchased us with His blood that we might bless Him by His living in us and doing His work.
This can be illustrated by the following unusual example. Sometimes we may have to die for another by toning down or even eliminating warm, loving behavior. There are some people who are frightened of closeness because of some very hurtful incident in their past. A woman who was abused and molested by a trusted man will very often not want another man to show too much warmth or any touching, no matter how innocent. A woman who trusted her husband without question and he ran off suddenly with another woman will either jump into closeness too quickly or resist closeness. These people may even act like they want closeness and then do one of the hundred things that can push people away emotionally.
With such a person we will have to die in the sense of treating them less affectionately than we do others. To stay at an emotional distance that is just not our personality is painful, sacrificial love. When we do what is needed for another’s benefit contrary to our nature, it is doing something difficult for God and brings Him tremendous worship.
Dying for one another is great worship. When God asks for it and we do it, we tell Him how much we love and respect Him. We let Him be the Lord, the boss. Can you imagine the disconnect if we sing worship songs and the few times God asks us to lay down our lives we resist? Let’s be ready to make a few difficult decisions to lay down our lives for one another and worship God in this very costly way.
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
This can be illustrated by the following unusual example. Sometimes we may have to die for another by toning down or even eliminating warm, loving behavior. There are some people who are frightened of closeness because of some very hurtful incident in their past. A woman who was abused and molested by a trusted man will very often not want another man to show too much warmth or any touching, no matter how innocent. A woman who trusted her husband without question and he ran off suddenly with another woman will either jump into closeness too quickly or resist closeness. These people may even act like they want closeness and then do one of the hundred things that can push people away emotionally.
With such a person we will have to die in the sense of treating them less affectionately than we do others. To stay at an emotional distance that is just not our personality is painful, sacrificial love. When we do what is needed for another’s benefit contrary to our nature, it is doing something difficult for God and brings Him tremendous worship.
Dying for one another is great worship. When God asks for it and we do it, we tell Him how much we love and respect Him. We let Him be the Lord, the boss. Can you imagine the disconnect if we sing worship songs and the few times God asks us to lay down our lives we resist? Let’s be ready to make a few difficult decisions to lay down our lives for one another and worship God in this very costly way.
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
One evening, during her small group meeting, elderly Mrs. Jones mentioned that the building she was living in was cockroach infested and run down. The group learned that the landlord was a Mr. Smith. Mrs. Jones' small group leader took this concern to the meeting of small group leaders at Grace Church. The ten small group leaders asked their groups if anyone knew Mr. Smith.
It turned out a believer named Gladys held a fairly responsible position with Smith, Inc. But her small group impressed upon her that she should talk to Mr. Smith about taking better care of his tenants, even though it would risk her employment. It was the right thing to do. Gladys laid her job on the line for Mrs. Jones and the other elderly tenants of the dilapidated building. And Gladys got fired. Gladys then had a crisis of faith, doubting the Lord because she fell upon hard times for doing good. But her church as well as the small groups prayed for her, shared their finances, and asked everyone they knew about possible jobs for Gladys. Soon Gladys recovered from her discouragement. Then the Lord gave her another good job through the church's search efforts. |
It is when Satan strikes his most deadly blows against Christians that we need to die for one another. This is not a new concept. During peacetime the citizens of a nation go about their safe lives, but when that country is at war, many of the pleasantries cease and everyone gets down to the business of fighting and watching out for one another.
We are at war with the devil who is always attempting to steal God’s glory. Once in a while the battle will heat up in our lives and those in our Christian Inner Circles. The evil one will create problems and needs with those we love requiring us to delay, detour, or destroy some part of our lives. When this happens we will need to defeat the devil’s plans by laying down our lives for one another in some sacrificial way. This is a great privilege to be obedient to Scripture and serve God by dying for one another in whatever way is necessary. If we do lay down our lives but resent it, Satan succeeds in removing God’s glory from our actions. And, if we do not lay down our lives, the devil wins on two fronts: we are not obedient to God’s instruction to love others through His power, and whoever Satan has attacked gets no help and may turn against God.
If we are to go to battle with the right attitude for these occasions to die to some non-sinful desire, we must adopt the biblical attitude toward suffering.
We are at war with the devil who is always attempting to steal God’s glory. Once in a while the battle will heat up in our lives and those in our Christian Inner Circles. The evil one will create problems and needs with those we love requiring us to delay, detour, or destroy some part of our lives. When this happens we will need to defeat the devil’s plans by laying down our lives for one another in some sacrificial way. This is a great privilege to be obedient to Scripture and serve God by dying for one another in whatever way is necessary. If we do lay down our lives but resent it, Satan succeeds in removing God’s glory from our actions. And, if we do not lay down our lives, the devil wins on two fronts: we are not obedient to God’s instruction to love others through His power, and whoever Satan has attacked gets no help and may turn against God.
If we are to go to battle with the right attitude for these occasions to die to some non-sinful desire, we must adopt the biblical attitude toward suffering.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:18
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:18
In short, the payoff of suffering is well worth the hardship and anguish. Hard as it is, we should cherish every difficult situation or challenging opportunity to die to something of this world for another’s good.
I can give a great example from when my wife died for my sake while Satan was hoping to destroy our marriage. It was the first year of our marriage, which has now lasted 51 years. I came from a home with violent spouse abuse and bouts of uncontrollable child abuse. I had a sister nine years older who, when she was not hiding for safety, was a source of love. But, she used sarcasm when her own peace disappeared, and that made my insecurity return. So, when my wife used sarcasm at the start of our marriage, I explained that I just could not handle it. Although she had used it all her life, she stopped immediately and has not been sarcastic now for 51 years. That is what dying for another is like.
Dying to sin often is what we need to do to help another. And, while it is really not the kind of dying Jesus did for us because He did not sin, we have to include it in this discussion. Sometimes it is some sinful reaction to people that we must die to. If we are hurting someone we really care about, we need to die to whatever sinful behavior needs to go away. A friend or family member or spouse who really needs us to give up something will hopefully provoke us to action, but only to the degree of our love for them.
A father who grows to love his children but finds that he scares them with his anger will want to die for his children by slaying his angry outbursts. A friend who gossips and hurts a close friend will finally realize she wants to stop telling tales and lays down her life in that way for all of her friends. A family helps an older brother to die to his sin of ridicule that makes his younger siblings think they are inferior and destroys their self confidence.
Technically, this dying to sin is not this Together of laying down our lives for one another. Dying for one another means letting go of something for the benefit of another. Dying to sin means taking hold of our new life in Christ because we are already dead to sin. It is most important to stop sin that hurts others. But here we have to focus of what it means to give up something that is not sin for another’s good. Other than our most tenacious sins, this laying down our lives is often tougher because our non-sinful desires are not already dead within us.
For example, a very close friend’s parked car is destroyed by a drunk driver and insurance does not cover the cost of replacing it with a reliable way to get to work. The temptation is to merely pray when God wants us to give up a weekend vacation and give that money toward a new car. However, if we were to give up money we planned to spend on something we have coveted that our neighbor possesses, that would call for dying to sin, not dying for another. Yet, dying to that sin of coveting would secondarily be laying down our lives for the one who needed a car.
There are thousands of temptations that are not to sin.
A friend who does not like the man her best friend married may love that friend so much as to learn to like the man her friend chose to live with for her remaining years. That would be dying for her friend. (The command of Scripture to love does not always include the concept of liking. We love our enemies, but we probably do not like them.)
Even though smoking is not a sin identified in the Bible, a mother will stop smoking while she is pregnant to keep from harming the child within her, but if she returns to smoking once the baby is born, she is not dying for that child in a final sense. But the mother who does not want her children to have a risk for cancer from breathing secondhand smoke and gives up smoking forever has truly died in this way for her children.
When God asks us to die for another, the other person or persons benefits and so do we. However clear it is how the other will benefit, it may not be clear how we will benefit also. This requires trust that God will use this laying down of our lives for our benefit. God has the “long view” into eternity while we are so short-sighted. To help pay a debt a friend has sinfully created is bearing one another’s burden of sin (another Together), is doing something very similar to Jesus paying our penalty for sin, and this is the point – it is the way to change our spirits for a fuller life in heaven. God’s way of living is certainly the best when eternity is considered.
Suppose we have the funds and opportunity to buy a very expensive motor home and tour far and wide. And, yet, we have no internal peace from God’s Spirit living in us. Since we do not see the future or comprehend what God needs us to do, it can be baffling how not buying the motor home is God’s will. We might even know of another in our church whom God led to buy a motor home. Perhaps they desired it or perhaps they did not want to live out of a motor home. But they knew God was calling them to travel and minister to others, even if they scarcely could afford it.
For us to pass up the motor home would take quite a bit of trust in God that He knows best. Later we might see that we had family and friends and neighbors who really needed us to be home with them as they faced troubles. Hopefully, we would be filled with wonder that the Lord really did know what He was doing when He did not give us peace about purchasing the motor home.
We can’t let Satan win any battles if we can help it. Let’s find the joy of winning battles by laying down our lives for one another and defeat the devil’s variety of schemes.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
I can give a great example from when my wife died for my sake while Satan was hoping to destroy our marriage. It was the first year of our marriage, which has now lasted 51 years. I came from a home with violent spouse abuse and bouts of uncontrollable child abuse. I had a sister nine years older who, when she was not hiding for safety, was a source of love. But, she used sarcasm when her own peace disappeared, and that made my insecurity return. So, when my wife used sarcasm at the start of our marriage, I explained that I just could not handle it. Although she had used it all her life, she stopped immediately and has not been sarcastic now for 51 years. That is what dying for another is like.
Dying to sin often is what we need to do to help another. And, while it is really not the kind of dying Jesus did for us because He did not sin, we have to include it in this discussion. Sometimes it is some sinful reaction to people that we must die to. If we are hurting someone we really care about, we need to die to whatever sinful behavior needs to go away. A friend or family member or spouse who really needs us to give up something will hopefully provoke us to action, but only to the degree of our love for them.
A father who grows to love his children but finds that he scares them with his anger will want to die for his children by slaying his angry outbursts. A friend who gossips and hurts a close friend will finally realize she wants to stop telling tales and lays down her life in that way for all of her friends. A family helps an older brother to die to his sin of ridicule that makes his younger siblings think they are inferior and destroys their self confidence.
Technically, this dying to sin is not this Together of laying down our lives for one another. Dying for one another means letting go of something for the benefit of another. Dying to sin means taking hold of our new life in Christ because we are already dead to sin. It is most important to stop sin that hurts others. But here we have to focus of what it means to give up something that is not sin for another’s good. Other than our most tenacious sins, this laying down our lives is often tougher because our non-sinful desires are not already dead within us.
For example, a very close friend’s parked car is destroyed by a drunk driver and insurance does not cover the cost of replacing it with a reliable way to get to work. The temptation is to merely pray when God wants us to give up a weekend vacation and give that money toward a new car. However, if we were to give up money we planned to spend on something we have coveted that our neighbor possesses, that would call for dying to sin, not dying for another. Yet, dying to that sin of coveting would secondarily be laying down our lives for the one who needed a car.
There are thousands of temptations that are not to sin.
A friend who does not like the man her best friend married may love that friend so much as to learn to like the man her friend chose to live with for her remaining years. That would be dying for her friend. (The command of Scripture to love does not always include the concept of liking. We love our enemies, but we probably do not like them.)
Even though smoking is not a sin identified in the Bible, a mother will stop smoking while she is pregnant to keep from harming the child within her, but if she returns to smoking once the baby is born, she is not dying for that child in a final sense. But the mother who does not want her children to have a risk for cancer from breathing secondhand smoke and gives up smoking forever has truly died in this way for her children.
When God asks us to die for another, the other person or persons benefits and so do we. However clear it is how the other will benefit, it may not be clear how we will benefit also. This requires trust that God will use this laying down of our lives for our benefit. God has the “long view” into eternity while we are so short-sighted. To help pay a debt a friend has sinfully created is bearing one another’s burden of sin (another Together), is doing something very similar to Jesus paying our penalty for sin, and this is the point – it is the way to change our spirits for a fuller life in heaven. God’s way of living is certainly the best when eternity is considered.
Suppose we have the funds and opportunity to buy a very expensive motor home and tour far and wide. And, yet, we have no internal peace from God’s Spirit living in us. Since we do not see the future or comprehend what God needs us to do, it can be baffling how not buying the motor home is God’s will. We might even know of another in our church whom God led to buy a motor home. Perhaps they desired it or perhaps they did not want to live out of a motor home. But they knew God was calling them to travel and minister to others, even if they scarcely could afford it.
For us to pass up the motor home would take quite a bit of trust in God that He knows best. Later we might see that we had family and friends and neighbors who really needed us to be home with them as they faced troubles. Hopefully, we would be filled with wonder that the Lord really did know what He was doing when He did not give us peace about purchasing the motor home.
We can’t let Satan win any battles if we can help it. Let’s find the joy of winning battles by laying down our lives for one another and defeat the devil’s variety of schemes.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
When Madeline came to work with bruises again, her friend Addison asked what happened. “Fell down the stairs” was the answer. Addison responded, “Tell me what really happened.” Tears came to Madeline’s eyes and she turned away. Addison took Madeline’s arm and led her into her office and closed the door. She sat there until Madeline composed herself and was ready to talk.
It came out that Madeline’s husband was an abuser who beat her up for talking to the man behind them in the cashier’s line at the grocery store. What unfolded was Madeline’s nightmare of living for five years with a man who was controlling, jealous, and made threats of violence. Asked why she did not leave this abusive marriage, Madeline said she wanted to for years but couldn’t make it financially, what with three small children. Addison prayed with Madeline about what to do. Two days later Addison took Madeline to lunch. She had a plan. Addison had recruited four families in her church who would take Madeline and the three children into their homes for three weeks, giving Madeline three months to extract herself from the relationship and discover how to meet her financial needs. Since the husband knew of Addison, the family could not stay with her. But, the family would be effectively hidden by staying with four unknown families scattered around the community. Her husband would not be able to find her and she would feel safe. A restraining order would keep him from contact with her at work and the children at school. Addison would go with Madeline and confront the abusive husband. Addison was single and 24-years-old and scared. But, this had to be done. She would lay down her life for Madeline and the children and expose herself to danger. It went much smoother than anyone imagined. Madeline and her children are now doing well in their own apartment and the divorce will be final soon. The surprising thing that came from Addison dying to her safety for the sake of Madeline was a heightened awareness of God. It was like spiritual reality had dawned like never before. Just dying to self and the safety of her life opened up a new trust in her Lord. She could better see things from God’s perspective as if eternal life had opened up to her. |
Dying for one another is the way to embrace eternal life now, build up “starting capital” in heavenly treasure, and be more ready for heaven when we get there.
Don’t we wish we were more aware of our eternal life? Isn’t it tremendously valuable to know we have it now and not be so worried about death and whatever comes after it? Each decision to lay down our lives for one another helps us discover the authenticity of our eternal life.
Don’t we wish we were more aware of our eternal life? Isn’t it tremendously valuable to know we have it now and not be so worried about death and whatever comes after it? Each decision to lay down our lives for one another helps us discover the authenticity of our eternal life.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:25
John 12:25
Note that this does not say, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his sins . . .”. There is a reason that in addition to letting go of the sin that was once alive in us but is now dead we are to let go of good things for the benefit of others. We enhance our sense of eternal life by not hanging on to things in this life. Hating our lives in this world is not the emotion of hate but the priority of choice. This present life must be lost and hated in the sense that it is much less important than our eternal life in the kingdom of heaven which has already begun even though we have not yet died physically.
Clearly, walking away from a motor home God does not agree with takes us into the essence of eternal life which is laying down our lives for one another. Eternal life is clearly about relationships, our relationship with God for eternity and our relationships with heaven’s citizens forever. So, staying at home rather than sightseeing in that motor home that God did not want for us (but perhaps for someone else), is an act of losing our lives and gaining back lives transformed into eternal lives which last forever.
One of the things that can draw us away from serving God, which is a large part of eternal life, is money. Letting go of faith in money seems to be one of the most powerful ways of finding true life.
Clearly, walking away from a motor home God does not agree with takes us into the essence of eternal life which is laying down our lives for one another. Eternal life is clearly about relationships, our relationship with God for eternity and our relationships with heaven’s citizens forever. So, staying at home rather than sightseeing in that motor home that God did not want for us (but perhaps for someone else), is an act of losing our lives and gaining back lives transformed into eternal lives which last forever.
One of the things that can draw us away from serving God, which is a large part of eternal life, is money. Letting go of faith in money seems to be one of the most powerful ways of finding true life.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
1 Tim 6:17-19
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Considering Christians the world over, we are the rich mentioned in the above passage. Most of us cannot excuse ourselves from being generous and ready to share. And, we should want to die in the way of giving up money for the good of one another because it is the true life. That future, wonderful life has a foundation developed now. We can store up treasure for heaven.
It is not all about money, though. Treasure in heaven is also built by sacrificial good works. We are also to “be rich in good works” to “take hold of that which is truly life”. Time might be the next most challenging thing to sacrificially give away. When those in our Christian Inner Circles and others need our time, we usually have to die to something we wanted to do. Sometimes it involves sacrifice and suffering, and when it does, it calls for the laying down of our lives for others. It would be great if each time we scrapped our plans because of someone else’s urgent need, we heard the tinkling of heaven’s coins going into our treasure chests.
Furthermore, laying our lives down for others, in effect losing our lives in some way, causes us to enter further into eternal life, what the Scriptures call “truly life”. That life has to be awareness of God. The less we are concerned for ourselves, the more we will be concerned for God and be aware of Him. Perhaps this is the special “bonus” love and manifestation promised by Jesus if we obey His commands, especially to love one another as He did His disciples.
It is not all about money, though. Treasure in heaven is also built by sacrificial good works. We are also to “be rich in good works” to “take hold of that which is truly life”. Time might be the next most challenging thing to sacrificially give away. When those in our Christian Inner Circles and others need our time, we usually have to die to something we wanted to do. Sometimes it involves sacrifice and suffering, and when it does, it calls for the laying down of our lives for others. It would be great if each time we scrapped our plans because of someone else’s urgent need, we heard the tinkling of heaven’s coins going into our treasure chests.
Furthermore, laying our lives down for others, in effect losing our lives in some way, causes us to enter further into eternal life, what the Scriptures call “truly life”. That life has to be awareness of God. The less we are concerned for ourselves, the more we will be concerned for God and be aware of Him. Perhaps this is the special “bonus” love and manifestation promised by Jesus if we obey His commands, especially to love one another as He did His disciples.
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
John 14:21
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We can illustrate this with an example from parenting. All of us parents can take our children to the zoo and easily be so focused on if we are enjoying ourselves, if everything is going okay, and if our feet hurt. Putting so much attention on our agenda keeps us from enjoying our children when they are excited and having fun. The more we can let go of our own concerns, the more we can see the zoo through the eyes of our children. Likewise, the more we let go of our lives, the more we will be aware of and see the world through God’s eyes.
Perhaps we have thought that the main task is being aware of God, Who He is, what He wants, and so on. But what if we cannot do that very well before something else is done? The preparatory requirement seems to be losing our life to find the life hidden behind our concerns. That is where God is vivid. (Mark 8:25) This entails hating our own self-focused life in this world, meaning not valuing it very much compared to valuing God. (John 12:25) That will allow us to be aware of God more and He will show us how He wants us to be aware of the needs of others. Then, we will die for one another because we choose to live God’s way.
So to prepare for heaven by dying for one another, let’s lose our lives to enter into our eternal lives now and be much more conscious of God’s presence. Then the Holy Spirit can lead us to do without something we really want in order to give away money for another’s urgent need. Furthermore, to take hold of the more real and enduring spiritual aspect of life, let’s hear God’s call about the needs of others and sacrifice our plans and time whenever necessary. Let’s start the kingdom of heaven before we get to our eternal home. Laying down our lives for one another will close our self-predominant lives and open up eternal life right now.
How this Together Can Make It Really Good in Heaven
Perhaps we have thought that the main task is being aware of God, Who He is, what He wants, and so on. But what if we cannot do that very well before something else is done? The preparatory requirement seems to be losing our life to find the life hidden behind our concerns. That is where God is vivid. (Mark 8:25) This entails hating our own self-focused life in this world, meaning not valuing it very much compared to valuing God. (John 12:25) That will allow us to be aware of God more and He will show us how He wants us to be aware of the needs of others. Then, we will die for one another because we choose to live God’s way.
So to prepare for heaven by dying for one another, let’s lose our lives to enter into our eternal lives now and be much more conscious of God’s presence. Then the Holy Spirit can lead us to do without something we really want in order to give away money for another’s urgent need. Furthermore, to take hold of the more real and enduring spiritual aspect of life, let’s hear God’s call about the needs of others and sacrifice our plans and time whenever necessary. Let’s start the kingdom of heaven before we get to our eternal home. Laying down our lives for one another will close our self-predominant lives and open up eternal life right now.
How this Together Can Make It Really Good in Heaven
I wasn’t really ready for the angels in heaven. Sure, I knew about them, but seeing their variety and communicating so uniquely with them was something for which I was not prepared. However, I was ready for relating to the human citizens of heaven.
Through growing less and less attached to the things in my world before I died and came here, I saw enough of eternal life to fit right in from the start. I was able to see God’s perspective more clearly as a result of seeing how much of my culture had captured me for lesser things than what truly counted. This prepared me to relate with others here in heaven without self-focus, God’s way of life. In the ten years before I died and came here, I let the Holy Spirit reveal the spiritual perspective about life. Much of what the world touted became insignificant. I first noticed this when television shows and commercials seemed to be foreign. Before dying to the things of that world to be able to give sacrificially of my time and money for those in need around me, I loved to dream of having an expensive new car. The auto commercials fascinated me. Then, understanding eternity better, those commercials lost their appeal. And, so many of the programs I watched seemed hollow, like a culture in which I no longer lived. |
Dying for the needs of one another now will allow us to enter heaven ready for its way of life. We will have already experienced eternal life to some degree and be more naturally capable of living in the kingdom.
It is like scuba diving. If people take classes in their community, they can fly to where they will actually dive and get started right away to view all the wonderful creatures of the sea. If they do not prepare and learn beforehand, they will have to take classes at the diving destination and delay the actual diving adventure.
Having let go of worldly values and adopted the values of heaven through obedience to the Bible’s instruction to lay down our lives for one another, we will enter heaven ready to go. We will have left behind so much focus on ourselves and be free to focus on God and the other citizens of heaven. If we have more of the values of eternal life when we get to heaven, it will feel more like we are coming home. Of course, it will be our “new” home, but it will not be so unfamiliar.
It is wise for people emigrating to a new country to learn about its culture before arriving. It makes it more comfortable to not be so confused by the different ways of doing things. It allows for a quicker start in enjoying the good things of the new country.
In heaven we will spend quite a lot of our time serving God and other citizens of His kingdom. If we practice the ways of heaven by dying in some way or other for one another now, we will be more ready for heaven when we arrive.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Empathy
It is like scuba diving. If people take classes in their community, they can fly to where they will actually dive and get started right away to view all the wonderful creatures of the sea. If they do not prepare and learn beforehand, they will have to take classes at the diving destination and delay the actual diving adventure.
Having let go of worldly values and adopted the values of heaven through obedience to the Bible’s instruction to lay down our lives for one another, we will enter heaven ready to go. We will have left behind so much focus on ourselves and be free to focus on God and the other citizens of heaven. If we have more of the values of eternal life when we get to heaven, it will feel more like we are coming home. Of course, it will be our “new” home, but it will not be so unfamiliar.
It is wise for people emigrating to a new country to learn about its culture before arriving. It makes it more comfortable to not be so confused by the different ways of doing things. It allows for a quicker start in enjoying the good things of the new country.
In heaven we will spend quite a lot of our time serving God and other citizens of His kingdom. If we practice the ways of heaven by dying in some way or other for one another now, we will be more ready for heaven when we arrive.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Empathy
One thing that is wonderful here in heaven is that no matter who we are with, they sense God’s presence. I am not speaking of the occasional time when Jesus visits us and we can see and hear Him, but of when we sense Him inside of us and also that we are in Him. It is so great to no longer have sin cloud that awareness of being with God.
But, it seems that all of us are content with different levels of awareness. It seems to be related to the proportion of our lives we put to death as opportunities arose before physical death. I remember reading in my Bible that Jesus said to lose our lives to gain them. Some of us evidently did that more than others and came to heaven with greater familiarity with eternal life and awareness of God. And then there are those who died in the womb or as children and did not have the opportunity to lay down their lives for others to be more aware of God and eternal life. Fortunately, they had no or few worldly desires to let go of to take hold of real life. Even though they were born in sin like all of us, they had not yet been so trapped by this present world and so prevented from sensing eternal life and God’s presence. So they seem to be here in heaven with a superior internal sense of God’s presence. Sin did not get the chance to tear them away from God as it did the rest of us. I am extremely happy for them. I am also glad that I made some progress in dying for others back before I died of cancer in my 60's. Being terminally ill helped me to let go of that life and enter into this eternal life. But, even before that I ceased living for the things money could buy and made myself available to people who needed me. Many times I gave up things I had been looking forward to in order to make time or money available to those with whom I was close. |
We can enter heaven with a greater awareness of God’s presence if we have already experienced eternal life by sacrificially laying down our lives for one another. This requires lessening our hold on this life so that we can grab onto the life that is truly life wherein we are more aware of God’s presence and involvement.
A Christian can know about God through Bible study. Another Christian can know God personally by prayer that listens as well as talks. A third Christian can have opened the door to eternal life through putting this life at lower priority and placing God at top priority and then dying for others, especially believers. This third Christian will grasp the true life, that life in the spirit where God who is spirit dwells. He or she will see reality from God’s perspective more and more. He or she will more fully sense the presence of God. Jesus will become even more real.
Here is an analogy. An employee goes to work for a fairly large company and asks a lot of questions about the owner. Another employee volunteers to help with a company fund-raising banquet for a charity and briefly meets the owner face-to-face before he or she has to give a speech. A third employee passes by the owner whose car has broken down and is stranded in a fierce rainstorm. Ignoring that he or she will be late to an important dinner with friends at a fancy restaurant, this employee stops, turns around, and gives the owner a drive home that takes over an hour. During that time the employee gets to know the “big boss” personally. Later, when the owner walks through the company, which of these three employees will he or she stop and visit? Surely it will be the employee who laid aside plans to serve an urgent need. Similarly, God will visit more those who died for others, and, thereby, essentially for Him.
A Christian can know about God through Bible study. Another Christian can know God personally by prayer that listens as well as talks. A third Christian can have opened the door to eternal life through putting this life at lower priority and placing God at top priority and then dying for others, especially believers. This third Christian will grasp the true life, that life in the spirit where God who is spirit dwells. He or she will see reality from God’s perspective more and more. He or she will more fully sense the presence of God. Jesus will become even more real.
Here is an analogy. An employee goes to work for a fairly large company and asks a lot of questions about the owner. Another employee volunteers to help with a company fund-raising banquet for a charity and briefly meets the owner face-to-face before he or she has to give a speech. A third employee passes by the owner whose car has broken down and is stranded in a fierce rainstorm. Ignoring that he or she will be late to an important dinner with friends at a fancy restaurant, this employee stops, turns around, and gives the owner a drive home that takes over an hour. During that time the employee gets to know the “big boss” personally. Later, when the owner walks through the company, which of these three employees will he or she stop and visit? Surely it will be the employee who laid aside plans to serve an urgent need. Similarly, God will visit more those who died for others, and, thereby, essentially for Him.
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Matt 25:37-40
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Parents love it when their children reach the age to be able to see things from their parental point of view. This often does not happen until children are adults, perhaps facing the same kinds of situations their parents once faced with them. For example, a parent disciplines because a bicycle was left outside overnight in the rain. The child might know that it was not good for the bike. There might even be a discussion about this. But, 20-plus years later that child will fully understand also that bicycles cost money that is needed for other things. Once the adult child understands, more closeness will develop.
When the child can see how the parent sees the bicycle being left outside overnight, that is like us when we enter more into eternal life and see things from God’s perspective more clearly. We cannot do this without maturing to the point that this world is not nearly as important as God. We will be glad when we get to heaven that we gave up many things we could have had or done for the sake of one another. Everyone in our Christian Inner Circles should be exhorted toward leaving things of this world behind whenever necessary to help one another.
In heaven God won’t be such a stranger to those of us who have lost our lives and picked up eternal life with its quite different perspective. Let’s take this Together very seriously to improve the quality of our relationship with God in heaven for all of eternity.
Praise and Prayer Regarding this Together
Dear Lord, I know that You are waiting for me to lose my life so that I can gain that life wherein You become more real and personal to my spirit. Help me place You as much, much more important than anything in this world.
I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to be able to more often lay down our lives for one another. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we live selflessly and risk reputation, financial security and pleasure when You ask us to for the benefit of one of Your children.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus by making life-altering sacrifices for one another, at least a few over our lifetimes. Help us, like Jesus, to live to serve You and to not hesitate to give up a few treasured things or experiences for Your glory and someone else’s urgent need.
May our lives worship You more because we consider You completely worth sacrificing cherished parts of our lives for the good of others in times of emergency. Help us to hang on to You more than to things in our life when You need them for others.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil so that we are able to delay, detour, or destroy some part of our lives to meet a crisis created when Satan attacks someone in our Christian Inner Circles. And, when we do lay down some aspect of our lives out of necessity for someone’s need, fill us with joy rather than resentment.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by growing more completely to not be so concerned for ourselves. Watching out for ourselves will be unnecessary in heaven as, without sin, we are able to completely trust in You and depend on Your provision. Help us to be so aware of our eternal life and the life with You in heaven that the things of this world are not so important that we cannot give them up for a critical need of another Christian.
Help me to help those in my Christian Inner Circle be less attached to this world and its comforts. Allow me to help them enter further into eternal life which is life more in the spirit than in the flesh. Help me to help them lay down their lives for others.
When the child can see how the parent sees the bicycle being left outside overnight, that is like us when we enter more into eternal life and see things from God’s perspective more clearly. We cannot do this without maturing to the point that this world is not nearly as important as God. We will be glad when we get to heaven that we gave up many things we could have had or done for the sake of one another. Everyone in our Christian Inner Circles should be exhorted toward leaving things of this world behind whenever necessary to help one another.
In heaven God won’t be such a stranger to those of us who have lost our lives and picked up eternal life with its quite different perspective. Let’s take this Together very seriously to improve the quality of our relationship with God in heaven for all of eternity.
Praise and Prayer Regarding this Together
Dear Lord, I know that You are waiting for me to lose my life so that I can gain that life wherein You become more real and personal to my spirit. Help me place You as much, much more important than anything in this world.
I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to be able to more often lay down our lives for one another. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we live selflessly and risk reputation, financial security and pleasure when You ask us to for the benefit of one of Your children.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus by making life-altering sacrifices for one another, at least a few over our lifetimes. Help us, like Jesus, to live to serve You and to not hesitate to give up a few treasured things or experiences for Your glory and someone else’s urgent need.
May our lives worship You more because we consider You completely worth sacrificing cherished parts of our lives for the good of others in times of emergency. Help us to hang on to You more than to things in our life when You need them for others.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil so that we are able to delay, detour, or destroy some part of our lives to meet a crisis created when Satan attacks someone in our Christian Inner Circles. And, when we do lay down some aspect of our lives out of necessity for someone’s need, fill us with joy rather than resentment.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by growing more completely to not be so concerned for ourselves. Watching out for ourselves will be unnecessary in heaven as, without sin, we are able to completely trust in You and depend on Your provision. Help us to be so aware of our eternal life and the life with You in heaven that the things of this world are not so important that we cannot give them up for a critical need of another Christian.
Help me to help those in my Christian Inner Circle be less attached to this world and its comforts. Allow me to help them enter further into eternal life which is life more in the spirit than in the flesh. Help me to help them lay down their lives for others.
Ever increasing practice of the Togethers of Scripture will (1) create in you the loving essence of Jesus, (2) give Jesus the kind of love He requested, (3) provide you with the most significant spiritual lifestyle which is attainable only through Christian community, (4) offer significant worship to God by reflecting his own character back to him through your behavior, and (5) bring God’s kingdom to earth as asked for in the Lord’s Prayer. And for heaven, such growing obedience to Scripture now will later (6) qualify you for a more responsible place of service as reward in heaven, and, (7) most important of all, give you greater empathy with God for a closer relationship with Him for all of eternity.