The Journey Into Death

When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I have always been extremely impressed with the way Jesus Christ turned everything we thought we knew on it's head.  To be exalted, you need to be humbled.  To be great, you need to be a servant.  And in order to live, you need to first die.

I wonder if this was on Abraham's mind as he took Isaac up Mt. Moriah for what he knew would be none less than a human sacrifice.  And I wonder if Isaiah knew that he would be sawn in half when he said those infamous words, "Here am I, send me." 

Friends, I am becoming more and more keenly aware that we have all been invited, pulled inextricably into that crux moment in history where true love and pure wrath met, where unrestricted grace touched unbridled judgment, where beauty and horror embraced, where the vertical and horizontal were nailed together, and salvation and damnation were clearly hung out for the entire world to see.  And we are asked to make a choice:  Who lives?  Who dies? 

"As I contemplated the spiritual journey of Holy Week . . . I knew this was not a week for shopping, vacation, parties, or hilarity. I sensed this was the week that above all weeks was to be set aside for the journey into death. I knew the worship of the church would take me by the hand and lead me step-by-step into the experience of death and rebirth, if I would allow it to do so. I resolved then and there to walk in the way of the cross. I purposed to make this the week God intended it to be for me, a week of intense spiritual struggle--and reward!"

Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Year 

(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), 118-119.

I remember being blown away by the Sunday School wall in a persecuted church in Antioch, Turkey.  There they had hung portions of scripture that were to be summarily memorized by their children.  Of course there were the usual verses that we in the west might expect, like "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become Children of God", and "Let the little children come unto me…"  

What I wasn't prepared for was this one:  "For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."  Not the normal Sunday School verse for little children, unless you realize that training up a child in the way he should go, as followers of Christ, is to experientially understand that unless one is dead to self, one cannot really live.

My friends, Christians do not celebrate Easter.  They celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and should be unembarrassed to say and do so, for it is only here that we can find and have true life.  Neither do we embrace pagan fertility rites (even if we are sometimes, like in our own lives, found ignominiously scrambling around for painted eggs and marshmallow chickies).  Rather, like Jesus Christ, we were born for the life of the cross, the tomb, and of course the power and reality of the Resurrection.  Let us therefore be unashamedly "baptized" into this, for it is in this that we truly "live, and move, and have our being". 

Have an awesome Holy Week, and Resurrection Sunday!

Is What You're Living For Worth Dying For?

One of the main highlights of our Tour in Germany this past summer, was doing a Wear The Crown concert for close to 8,500 young people in Aidlingen, Germany near Stuttgart.    The concert starts with a butterfly, signifying a new-born believer opening her wings and trying out her new-found faith, only to be sorely tempted by Materialism and Narcissism, and then re-focused to draw near to the Cross of Christ.

As my team and I have brought this message all over the world, many times I actually sense the enemy saying to me, "Bill, you are getting WAY to radical here.  Lighten up!"  Such a challenge to put before folks:  Is What You're Living For Worth Dying For?  But the the voice of the martyrs cries out to us - louder - more compelling -  not to guilt us as we look upon the death and torture, but rather, to challenge us to step up to the same bar, and make the same investment and commitment.

I am totally convinced that a person will never know why they are alive, unless the purpose for their life is wrapped up in God's purposes for the world.  One of my favorite sayings, (and something I must always keep telling myself) is, He has no fear who has nothing to lose.  I also firmly believe that I'll never really start understanding, until I start obeying.  Shall we "die" together my friends?

Heritage

Seeing Rome for the first time in person was nothing short of a surreal experience.  Just laying eyes on the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and walking where Pontiffs and Caesars walked and all that represented sent me into a conflicted spin that I am still pondering.  The beauty, the wealth, the idolatry, the artistry, the heritage - I chose to experience it as best I could, and consciously decided to weigh it all out later.  It's five days later, and I still am.

I was also well aware, that underneath the cobblestones, was another reality, memorials to Christian history, hidden beneath in the catacombs, a testimony to the price believers in Christ were willing to pay in an empire that was bound and determined to crush them, and a legacy of stalwart commitment to Christ regardless of cost to self.  What a noble heritage.

Below is a link to a video that is well-worth watching - a video on civil disobedience.  I have personally subscribed to the "Manhatten Project" because I not only have incredible respect for Chuck Colson, but because I agree whole-heartedly with what it says, and what these guys are trying to do.  The fact that here in America, we would set aside a national holiday to honor an African American Baptist-pastor/martyr who totally subscribed to Civil Disobedience is actually an encouragement to me, and this 6 minute video lays out very well what may be facing us in the future.  Have a look - it's quite compelling.  This kind of thing is in our heritage too, whether 40 years ago, or 2,000.