Death - Bad or Good?

Death. We do not like to talk of death. Man seeks all his life to avoid it and when our loved ones die it brings sadness and sorrow that for many is almost too much to bear. So we live out life in fear of the very word.

As I was standing in the back of my church last Sunday during our praise time I found myself in the very close presence of the wooden cross that is mounted on the wall. Being that close to the cross I started to ponder the very concept of facing death by way of crucifixion. Having read articles that provide the details of crucifixion it really hit me that hanging on a cross must be a terrifying and cruel way to die. It is a slow death, which often came through asphyxiation and exhaustion because of the position of one’s body. It is very difficult to exhale. I have asthma and have suffered through pneumonia and really bad cases of bronchitis in my life. Not being able to breath is terrifying to me.

Thinking all this though I am aware that most of the time people’s will to live is very strong and they will fight death to the bitter end. But it seems to me that it wouldn’t take long on a cross before death would become a desire due to the horrible suffering involved. Death, that terrible thing we all avoid, would become a good thing, something to be desired.

Then my thoughts shifted to Jesus. Jesus, who was the only innocent man that has ever walked this earth, went to the cross and suffered and died there. His death was such a good thing we preach about it and call it the Gospel, a word that means good news. Can death really be good news? This goes against the grain of how we think.

As I pondered all this it really hit me. How can death be good news? The answer lies in one simple word; Resurrection. If Jesus would have died on that cross and then simply been buried and that’s the end of the story then it would have been just a tragedy. But He rose again. The good news of the Gospel is that he rose again and was resurrected.  In 2 Corinthians 5:15 we read that “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” Christ died and was raised for us, so that we can have new life. Oh, and don’t miss the reason. It says so that we will no longer live for ourselves. In case you didn’t catch that, this means we die as well. We die to our old self and we have new life in Christ. We are resurrected.

You see when we become a Christian we have to die. We must die so that we can be resurrected. Resurrected to new life, not the old one we had before. This is what baptism is really about. Paul explains in Romans 6:3-4, “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

This is what it means to be “Born Again.” So death really is a good thing. Without death we have no resurrection. Without resurrection we have no new life and are stuck in the old life that is just as painful and just as exhausting as death on a cross. Without Christ life is painful. Every breath takes tremendous effort. At first its not so bad but eventually it wears you down.

So friends we must let go of the old life. We must die. We must be born again into new life. But we cannot stop at the first part of becoming a Christian. The old flesh does not want to die. It clings to life. It manifests itself through old sins and habits. This why as Christians we still struggle.

The answer is though death. The answer is through resurrection. Kill off your old nature. We can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit. But we have to stop clinging to the old life and we must desire the new life Jesus offers us.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior cry out to Him now. Hear the answer Paul and Silas gave to the jailer in Acts 16:30-33, who asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.”

If you are a Christian then die to the old self. Kill off old habits ands sins. Follow the command of Jesus who says this in Mark 8:34-35, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Death without resurrection should scare the “hell” out of you. It does me. But death with resurrection should fill your heart with joy and your mind with peace. As they say, we all gotta die. But not all will be resurrected to new life. It’s not too late to make the right choice. Make death a good thing. Jesus is waiting.