He wrote the Foreward to my book, Leadership Jesus Style (which has received a flurry of interest
lately), and nine books of his own. But
among all of Steve Brown’s writings, his latest work is arguably the best – Hidden Agendas (dropping the masks that keep
us apart).
What he writes in chapter 6, “Dead Men (and women) Do Tell
Tales” is right on target for this Sunday’s message, “Dead Men Walking”.
(Interestingly the number six is the one that signifies “man” in biblical
numerology and it’s always associated with human insufficiency in Scripture,
e.g. 666.) In it he cites several Pauline texts including Romans 6:10-14, I
Timothy 1:15, and Galatians 2:20. Every one of them speaks of the same reality.
We who believe are not only taken from spiritual death to spiritual life, but
we are taken from life lived in the flesh, to life lived in the spirit. In
short, everything that Jesus has done is ours. To point it more succinctly, we
are in Christ. So let me quote freely from Steve Brown’s Hidden Agendas, chapter 6:
Did you hear about the
man in the hospital for emotional problems? He thought he was dead. They tried
everything. Freud didn’t work, medication didn’t work, and diet didn’t help.
The man was sure he was dead and nobody could convince him otherwise.
Finally, one of the
psychiatrists got a bright idea. It wasn’t necessarily good psychology; but
then, when that doesn’t work, common sense might. The psychiatrist went to the
man and said, “Sam, do dead men bleed?”
“Of course not,” said
Sam.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.
Everybody knows that dead men don’t bleed.”
That’s when the
psychiatrist pulled out a safety pin, opened it, and stuck Sam in the hand. He
began to bleed. The psychiatrist thought he had finally fixed the problem until
Sam looked at his hand. “Son of a gun,” he said incredulously, “dead men do
bleed!”
Sorry.
I got an email this
morning from a man who was devastated. He understands grace and he knows that
when Christ died, he died for all his sins – past, present, and future – but he
said that recently someone he loved said, “Yes, God will always love you but
your sin breaks his heart.” I don’t know who that “someone” was, but I hope it
wasn’t his mother. I said some rather unkind things about how he had been
manipulated and about the “Pharisee” who had manipulated him.
God’s heart was
already broken. It has been broken from the foundation of the world. God
doesn’t get shocked nor does his heart break every time he sees you sin. The
God of the universe doesn’t have such high hopes for you that it breaks his
heart when you don’t live up to his expectations. His “expectations” about you
were accurate long before you were born. From the foundation of the world, he
prepared for Bethlehem. It’s done. You’ve already broken his heart. That’s what
the cross is all about. On the cross Christ died for you…but don’t ever forget
that you died too.
That brings me to one
of the most important memorandums you’ll ever receive. You’re dead! And just so
you know, dead men do bleed.
All my Christian life
I’ve heard messages on mortifying the flesh so that one is “crucified with
Christ.” They told me that it’s hard to die and then suggested certain ways to
make it happen – stop smoking, don’t let your mind go to places that are
tempting, get rid of your idols, stay up and pray all night, sacrifice for
Christ, pick up a cross and follow him, be humble, memorize Scripture, pray a
lot, and don’t think of yourself first. And then there are those who go to the
extreme of hair shirts, self-flagellation, or living in a desert cave. Others
have mutilated themselves or even, I’m told, actually placed themselves on a
real cross with friends driving nails through their hands and feet.
Not only is all of
that stuff neurotic, it doesn’t work. And it’s not even what the Scripture is
saying. But even more important, you’re already dead. As I said in the last
chapter, Paul doesn’t give a command in Galatians 2; he is stating a fact. You
are crucified with Christ.
The man who thought he
was (physically) dead was in fact not physically dead yet. He was going to die
(the death rate is 100 percent and the statistic is one out of one), but it
hadn’t happened yet. All the hospital’s efforts sought to help him see what was
true. He needed to see that he was alive. Paul wants us to see that we’re
already dead. We have been crucified with Christ.
So what does it mean
to be crucified with Christ? How does one live in that reality? What difference
will it make?
That’s what we will be talking about this Sunday as we look
at Galatians 2:14-21 and four terms Paul uses to describe our death in Christ.
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:
- How is anything but “keeping in step with the truth of the Gospel” a lapse into religion? (verse 14)
- What do the words “in step” mean?
- How does Jesus illustrate what keeping in step with the Gospel mean in Matthew 18:21-35?
- What is the definition of “righteousness” in verse 21?
- How is it true that our desire for righteousness permeates all we do as human beings?
- What does Paul mean in verse 19 when he says, “For through the law I died to the law”?
- What does “justification” mean?
- How is justifying something or someone a change of perspective rather than a change of facts?
- Do you think this is a true statement: “Every person’s problem with sanctification is really just a problem with justification”?
- Why is the news, “You’re dead!” good news?
See you Sunday!
