Die to yourself

Summary

In 1 Corinthians 15, today’s reading, Paul explains the doctrine of resurrection to those who doubted it. Clearly, from the questions they asked, Paul could see how shallow their reasoning was.

Using the analogy of a seed, Paul explains the doctrine to them, and from this I would like us to draw lessons that are relevant for us, beyond understanding and believing that resurrection is possible, for we serve a living God, Jesus Christ, who resurrected from the dead and today sits at the right hand of our Father in heaven.

Moreover, while we are living we all ought to die and resurrect in the spirit, as Pauls says in Galatians 2:20 “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.”

The title of the sermon today is ‘Die to Yourself’. I have heard these words spoken so many times but really what do they mean? I find that today both the first lesson and the gospel reading show us how to live a godly life, how to die to ourselves and what can be seen on the outside when we die to ourselves. While the first reading shows us how we die, or how a seed, dead, in the ground germinates, grows and later produces fruit and how we are our lives can be likened to this process, the gospel for today shows us the fruits we reap as a result of dying to ourselves. The one line that struck me the most today in the first reading was verse 36: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.”

As Paul tries to explain to the Corinthians, the bodies of the saints will be changed when they rise again. From this we draw that the human body as it is now, with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God.

But where is the kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is in heaven. No, the kingdom of God is also here. And if we do not die to ourselves, our desires hold us back from committing fully to God, and we cannot enjoy the kingdom of God.

What do I mean by that? You may serve in the church, for example, but if your service is about filling a void in your life, or filling up your schedule, or making you look better in the church and your community-basically self-fulfilment, then we fail to attain the enjoyment or satisfaction that God has intended for us by dying to ourselves, humbling ourselves and experiencing the Holy Spirit manifest through, in and around us. We miss the mark.

Therefore, do not sow to the flesh, or sow our flesh, which only reaps corruption. It is an undisputed fact anyway, that when you bury a dead body, it rots, it doesn’t turn into a tree, a butterfly or another person, it is destroyed. The same goes for us, the living. We might convince ourselves, but there is no cheating God into believing that if we put our wants before God’s will for our lives that we will still reap or even grow anything that would be pleasing in the sight of God. If we think that without dying to ourselves we can bear fruit, we only lie to ourselves, and only postpone the possibility of us fully experiencing God’s grace, mercy and love, that are not only for a moment…they are not fleeting, but ours for eternity.

The doctrine of resurrection might have been easy for the Corinthians to understand after Paul’s explanation, but perhaps the difficulty was in how the resurrection actually happens. The same with the analogy of the seed, whilst we understand that a seed germinates and later grows, we cannot fully understand how it springs into new life.

And so we stand in awe of God’s creation, and are humbled that when we die to ourselves it is not by our own strength or wisdom that we rise and do God’s will. We are not merely physical beings, but spiritual beings. We rely not on our own understanding but daily seek Him to lead us in achieving our purpose. Because when the flesh says that I am weak the spirit says I am strong, I am strong because I rely on the strength of God, an Almighty God who is all-powerful. And when we succeed the flesh says this was all me, but the spirit says it is only by the power and grace of God. This is only possible when we submit ourselves to God, and daily ask the Holy Spirit to be our guide, and to be obedient to resist the desires of the flesh that pull us away from the will of God. Why? Because just as Paul explains, once a seed is sown, the perishable dies and what rises is the imperishable. What is imperishable in us? It is the grace of God, if we receive it and exercise it in faith. If we submit to God, nothing or no one can take it away from us. For if God is for us, who can be against us?

Dying to one’s self is the continual denial of the flesh that occurs over a believer’s lifetime, and the continual agreement with the Holy Spirit. Emphasis on the word continual. See, Abraham is the man who almost sacrificed his only son in obedience to and faith in God. Abraham is the same man who panicked and identified his wife Sarah as his sister out of fear, and relying on his own wisdom to escape death. Dying to ourselves is an unending process.

It is only through self-denial that we see past the wrong that our enemies have done to us, or choose to move out of our comfort zone to love those we least expect to love, to show mercy, to give to those who probably won’t give back to us, or take bold steps in defending our faith. For indeed, what gain is there for us if we only love those who love us back and decide for ourselves when and how much we can do for the Kingdom of God? And so I ask, what are we driven by: our flesh or our spirit?

John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”. And from that I don’t need to, but I’ll spell it out, we cannot bear fruit, if we go about in our old self. This reminds me of the parable that Jesus told of patching an old cloak with new material. It just doesn’t work. Again, it’s easy to reason and convince ourselves that it is, but there is no cheating God. He who is all-knowing and all-wise, and knew us before we were formed, is Almighty and His will for us is to daily resist the destructive desires of the flesh, and trade them in for the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us in living lives that our worthy of God’s calling.

Amen

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