The Christian's Death Wish
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
Death is all around us. Even if it doesn't affect our personal lives, we can hear about it every day on the news. It's a subject that bothers us a lot, a serious subject, but one which is often dealt with humor. The other night while shooting a few hoops here in the church gym, Doyle told me a funny joke about three fishermen who went out early one warm summer morning to spend the day together at the side of a beautiful Michigan lake. Everything was going very nicely until one of them tugged on his line and realized that he must have snagged a root. Not wanting to lose his expensive lure, he decided to go into the water to free it. His two friends tried to dissuade him, but he dove into the water anyway, and soon was out of sight. It seemed like he was gone for much too long, and his friends became alarmed. One of them said, "I've got to go in after him." He dove into the water, and a few moments later resurfaced with the body. The two friends dragged him up on the shore, one began pushing rhythmically on his chest, while the other prepared to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The friend up at the head exclaimed, "Wow, his breath smells terrible." The other fisherman, pushing on his friend's chest said, "Well, I don't understand that. But also, I don't remember that he was wearing a snowmobile suit either!" As kids, we used to chant the taunting refrain: "Never laugh when a hearse goes by, for you may be the next to die. They'll wrap you up in a big white sheet, and bury you down about six feet deep. All will go well for about a week, and then the worms will begin to creep." Not only do we deal with the subject of death with humor, but it's also interesting to me that the words and ideas of death slip into our everyday vocabulary.
Some people are "dead last", some are "dead wrong", and some regularly "laugh themselves to death". In some parts of the country when a relative is leaving to go on a trip, you might say, "Give me a call, or I'll worry that you're dead in the ditch." (In more urban areas it gets changed to "dead in the doorway".) Someone once said, "When you yelled at me you scared me half to death." My reply was, "I promise I won't yell again because that will finish you off." April is the month we remind ourselves there are two unchangeable features of modern life, "death and taxes." If you get on the wrong side of your husband or wife, you're a "dead duck" - probably "deader than a doornail". A sports event might end in "sudden death"; or if the race is close it's a "dead heat". A marksman takes "dead aim", and if he hits the bull's eye, it is said that he was "dead on". The coldest time of year is the "dead of winter"; and we have been told that the best way to die is "death by chocolate." If you don't have a chance, you're "dead in the water"; or if you can't keep a straight face while telling an April Fools joke, you're a "dead give away". An anxiety attack is when someone is "worried to death"; when thirsty, they're "dying for a drink". When someone is embarrassed, they might be heard saying, "I could have died a thousand deaths"; and when they're sleeping soundly, they are "dead to the world." Some people wouldn't be "caught dead" talking about death. Most of us have the hardest time just saying the words. Instead, we say things like, "he passed on", or "she passed away". In the church we hear that "the Lord took him", someone "went to be with the Lord", or has "gone to heaven." We don't want to admit that people "die", so they just "expire", or become "deceased", "meet their early demise", "kick the bucket", or like old soldiers, they "just fade away". It may come as a surprise that the Bible doesn't seem to have this same aversion to these words. Rather, the words "die", "death" and "dead" show up in the Bible 1,167 times. In fact, it is apparent to me, that from the Biblical perspective, death is actually desirable. It may startle you when I say it, but true Christians are people who have a "'death wish". No, we're not talking about suicide, or even a desire to be martyred. And we're certainly not agreeing with cult leaders like Jim Jones 20 years ago, or the apparent cult murders just discovered in Uganda. That's not the kind of death that we're encouraging. What then is the "death wish" that is characteristic of all true Christians? The Apostle Paul is the one who brings this to our attention - it can be best seen in the familiar verse, Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." In the "Prison Epistles" several references are made to this death: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:10,11)
"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?" (Colossians 2:20 ) But this idea wasn't new to Paul. Jesus Himself encourages this "death wish": "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:24) But the most powerful representation of the Christian's identification with death, is baptism. This comes across loud and clear in Romans 6:3-13. Take a few minutes to review the numerous references to death in this passage. There are actually thee death wishes for the Christian.
Jesus said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." This same verse is found in each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). But notice the little added note provided by Luke: "let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily. . ." 2. The Christian wants to be dead to sin. By the Power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is able to take one step beyond the forgiveness of sin. When dead to sin, the Christian realizes power over sin, and Satan - even the power of temptation is broken. Do you know why I don't smoke? Simply because I'm not a smoker. Smoking offers no temptation to me because I'm dead to that. Do you know why I don't drink alcohol? Because I'm not a drinker. Drinking offers no temptation to me because I'm dead to that; smokers smoke, I'm not a smoker. The same can be said of other besetting sins like anger, malicious talk, unclean thoughts, and rebellion. Being dead to sin frees us from the power of those sins. 3. The Christian wants to be dead to desires. This at first sounds very much like the teaching we find in Buddhism which states that the path to true happiness is the renouncing of all desire. However, there is a significant difference. Christians are not dead to all desire, rather, their desires are transformed. Now instead of being motivated by selfish desires, what the Bible calls "...the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..." (1 John 2:16), Christians are motivated by a different desire, the desire to love God, please God, and serve God. Like our Lord and Master we say, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (Psalms 69:9), and, "I come to do thy will, O God." (Hebrews 10:9) It was no April Fools joke when the New York Times posted this story on April 1 about the deaths of at least 924 followers of a Christian fringe sect whose end-of-the-world prediction had failed to come true. They were followers of Credonia Mwerinde, a 48-year-old sect leader known as ``the Programmer." The bodies were found within a 50-mile radius among luxuriant green hills and volcanic lakes in southwestern Uganda. Obsessed with the desire to obtain the property of her followers, Mwerinde was ingenious and greedy. She "founded a religious movement and sold her spiritual wares to the gullible and the searching, particularly among the ranks of disaffected Roman Catholics." Evidently, this ``apostle'' of the "Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God secured the loyalty of sect members -- and their possessions -- by invoking visions she claimed to receive from the Virgin Mary." Before that, she had risen from grinding poverty and a fourth-grade education to become the owner of a shop that sold banana beer and bootleg liquor, earning a reputation for promiscuity and cunning along the way. Once recruits joined, they were subjected to a severe living situation which "divided mothers from children and husbands from wives and deprived followers of sleep and food. A code of silence was instituted that allowed members to communicate only with hand signals and a ban on visits from outsiders served to quell discontent and challenges to her authority." Mwerinde was successful, according to the popular notion among Ugandans. She was very large, and hers was an expanding sect compound at Kanungu, at the end with 12 buildings. The common belief is that "the failure of the world to end Dec. 31 spurred members to demand belongings they had surrendered to Mwerinde to join the sect. In turn, the reasoning goes, that inspired an insurrection that was put down with murder." However, these reports have not been confirmed. The March 17 a fire in a boarded up building in Kanungu took the lives of nearly 400 men, women and children. Now it is believed to have been nothing but a well-conceived plan, ``mass suicide'' to cover up murders of that already had been committed over the previous two weeks. As was stated earlier, this certainly is not the meaning of what we are calling the "Christian's Death Wish." However, unless we are willing to die to self, die to sin, and die to selfish desires - only then will we be assured that we really won't have to die after all.  - - Return to Top of this Page  - Email a Link to this Page
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