Why we do what we do – Death to Life
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” Colossians 2:13-15
Because of our sin we were once dead, totally cut off from God and without hope. But because of God’s mercy He sent Jesus to die in our place, making available to us forgiveness of sins through nailing our debt to the cross. Now that our faith is in Jesus we have been raised to life. We were dead, now we are alive. That is the most incredible transformation. Death to life! There can be no other response but to give thanks, praise and glory to God with our whole life.
Obviously there are many, many people all around us who are still dead in their trespasses, who are still slaves to sin. And now that we know how they too can be raised to life – through surrendering to Jesus as Lord – we owe it to them to tell them. That is why we do what we do – because we have been raised from death to life and we desire that others are too.
This isn’t just about us. Only the most selfish of souls could be content to keep news as powerful as the ability to be raised from death to life to themselves. We have to share it. We owe it to the world. They need to hear it. So we must tell them. We must let them know that the record of their debt can be cancelled. Because we have be raised to life we must do all that we can to help those who are still dead.
The cross changes everything. It broke the power of sin. Jesus’ sacrifice made it possible for us to be raised from death to life. Now that we have been made alive the cross becomes the reason why we do all that we do – it is were we got our life back. It is the proof of God’s love for us. It is our source of hope, for we know that if God gave up His son for us then He will never leave or forsake us. The power of cross disarms the rulers and authorities of this earth, and reminds us God has the final victory. Everything changes when we get raised from death to life. Our values change. Our priorities change. Our focus changes. We do what we do in light of the cross. We do all that we can to let the world hear that they are currently dead. We do all that we can to share with all who we can that there is hope, for Jesus offers us life! We do all that we can to see others join us in being raised from death to life. The reason why we do what we do with our lives must be to help others have that same eternity transforming experience that we had of being raised from death to life.