Living Beyond Death (4)

 

Hebrews 2:14 – 15; 2 Timothy 1:8 – 11

 

A few weeks ago, when we were also reading Hebrews Chapter 2, Bill DeWorken shared about the meaning of verses 14 – 15. Bill told us that for much of his life that he was afraid of death, but then he came to understand that because of Jesus Christ, and his relationship with Jesus, that he no longer needed to fear death. Hebrews Chapter 2 is one of the great Bible passages about the Incarnation – and just as the Cross has many facets to it, so does the Incarnation.

 

What facets of the Incarnation and the Cross do you see in verses 14 – 15?

 

In reading 2 Timothy 1:8 – 11, please pay particular attention to verse 10.  Ponder what Paul says about Jesus abolishing death, rendering death powerless – and bringing life and immortality to light through the Gospel. What do we see here?

 

Just as living in the peace of Christ is a way of life, so living beyond death is a way of life in Jesus Christ. We can learn to live in the reality that Jesus Christ abolished death, we can learn to live in life and immortality, we can learn to live “seeing the invisible”, we can learn to live abiding in Vine, we can learn what it is to eat of the Tree of Life as a way of life.

 

A question we can learn to ask ourselves throughout the day is, “Is this thing life or death?” Remember there are two trees in the garden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Note that the second tree is not the Tree of Evil, but of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life – we can live by Jesus Christ or we can live by our own judgment – of both good and evil.

 

What might this look like?

 

If we no longer live in the fear of death, and if we are learning to realize that Jesus abolished death – then we need not fear the things of this world – including the expectations of this world. In Romans 8:29 we’ve seen that we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ; then in Romans 12:1 – 2 we’re taught that we are not to be conformed to this world. Yet, what is the reality for many professing Christians? What molds us?

 

How often have our lives been conformed to what other people expect of us rather than to the image of Jesus Christ? We are sold images and we buy into those images – and those images become our idols. Then, when someone messes with our idols we get angry and can’t believe how others could be so stupid.

 

Our Father has convicted me of idolatrous images in my own life many times; images from my business career, images from vocational ministry, images from politics, images from economics, images from history, images from entertainment…the list goes on. The images purport to be something that they are not – they lie to us, they show us their appealing side but not their ugly side. The only image that never lies to us is the image of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. If we get angry when someone, rightly or wrongly, messes with our images perhaps we should ask our Lord Jesus why we are so angry – what is really going on within us? After all, we are the sons of the Living God and our citizenship is in heaven.

 

If we are accustomed to living in the light and life of Jesus Christ, if we are accustomed to eating of the Tree of Life, then physical death is moving day – for we are looking beyond death (we’ll look at moving day more closely in tomorrow’s reading).

 

Again, what might living by the Tree of Life look like? Well, what images are we putting into our minds? What words are we listening to? Are they words and images of life or of death? If we wouldn’t allow someone to put rat poison in our coffee, why do we willingly allow others to put poison in our hearts and minds? And keep in mind, that when we watch video that our brain waves go into a passive – receptor mode and we tend to drop our critical thinking – the Bible takes images seriously, and images bombarding us through video is something to be taken very seriously.

 

No one, not me and not you, can watch images that violate the Bible with impunity – they will sicken our souls and we’ll lose our sensitivity. For most Christians the problem isn’t losing sensitivity to light and darkness, it is how to regain that sensitivity. About a year ago Carroll shared his experience of going with his granddaughter to VA Tech for orientation. He couldn’t believe the language and messaging from both the students and the school. I think Carroll is probably the exception – most parents and grandparents have come to accept what’s going on because they’ve been desensitized.

 

“In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.” Proverbs 12:28.

 

We can learn, in Christ, to live in the light and life of Jesus Christ, no longer being slaves to death and the ways of death. Free men and women in Jesus Christ can say “yes” to Christ and “no” to death. If we say “no” to death today, we will know no death tomorrow.