A Good Samaritan rushed a friend suffering from appendicitis to the hospital. They got there in the nick of time. His appendix had already ruptured. The doctor said that they had to operate right away, and they promptly wheeled him into the theatre.
Quickly, his appendix was surgically removed. It was a successful operation. But there was a crisis when the man was revived. He kicked up a fuss. What exactly was the matter? He wanted his appendix back. “I never authorised you to remove it,” he insisted.
What can be done in a case such as this? He said: “I cannot live without my appendix.”
Can he live without a ruptured appendix? Or would he rather die with it?
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him.” (Hebrews 2:3).
The man insisted: “I want my appendix back.” “If we put it back, you might not even survive the operation.” “Just put it back. I never asked you to remove it.”
This relates to the contradictions we experience as Christians. How can we be redeemed without surrendering our lives? We were saved from Egypt, but we now want to go back to Egypt. What is the reality of Egypt? Was Egypt a nice place to be? Did we want to be saved from Egypt? Was salvation against our will? Can we be saved from our desires? Is Egypt heaven or hell? If it is heaven, why would we want to be saved from it? If it is hell, why would we want to return to it?
The redeemed must surrender Egypt and all that is in Egypt. Egypt is another word for the world.
John says: “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires — the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance — these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself.” (1 John 2:15-16).
To be redeemed, we must surrender every right to our lives because our lives were lives of sin and death. Remember Lot’s wife. She was rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah. But her heart remained in Sodom and Gomorrah. And so, against the Lord’s injunction, she looked back at the smouldering city and became a pillar of salt. She became a monument of God’s displeasure.
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
The redeemed have been saved from the world. We must not return to the world.
Surrender all
I always wanted to own a Lexus. So, for years, I saved to be able to buy one and finally did. I adored the car. It was everything I longed for. I spent hours polishing it and admiring it.
Then one day my wife asked me if I love her. I said, “Of course, I do.” She said: “I want you to give me your Lexus.” I was flabbergasted. “But we own it together,” I protested. “No,” she said, “I want you to give it to me so that it belongs exclusively to me.” I resisted and she sulked: “You don’t love me.” “I love you,” I said. “Okay, I’ll buy you another car.” “No,” she replied. “I don’t want another car. I want the Lexus.”
After one year of nagging, sulking, and complaining, I finally relented and gave her the car. She said: “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure.” “You mean it is mine.” “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The next day she called me outside to see the car. I thought she was washing it; it was all wet. You would not believe what happened. She struck a match and set fire to the car.
How was I to know that she had poured petrol all over it? “What in God’s name are you doing?” I protested. Her response was a classic: “You gave me the car. Since it is mine, I can do whatever I want with it. And what I want to do is to set it on fire.”
Are we prepared to relinquish every right to ourselves? Are we prepared to relinquish every plan, purpose, and consideration that has its origin in us? Are we prepared to relinquish our hold on our affections?
Crucified with Christ
Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).
Paul does not say that he has decided to obey Jesus. Neither does he say he will venerate Jesus. Such resolutions are based upon human initiative and effort. Instead, Paul affirms an abiding reality: “I am crucified.”
Paul says he died when Christ died on the cross. He then rose from the dead when Christ rose from the dead. But he did not rise from the dead as Paul. He rose as Christ. In effect, all that Christ has wrought for him on the cross is now wrought in him.
Although he still exists as an individual and separate entity, his mainspring and ruling disposition has been radically altered. He relinquished all rights to himself and became a slave of Christ.
God delivers us from sin, but we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality.
Dying to live
Hannah says: “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.” (1 Samuel 2:6).
If He does not kill before imparting life, the old life would pollute the new. Therefore, the Lord kills so that we may be dead to sin and to the world. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is designed to get us to a point where we have no regard for the things of the world.
God is determined that we become immune to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. A body in the grave is unaffected by pomp and vanity, gaiety and revelry, and ambition and splendour.
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
The reality of our redemption should lead us to a posture where we no longer bother about ourselves. Our goal is God Himself, not joy, or peace, not even blessings, but God. Our concern is to realise Jesus Christ.
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