Dead
Men Wanted
By: David Ravenhill
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Crucifixion
was the equivalent of
being sentenced to the gallows, guillotine, electric chair or the firing
squad—only much more painful and long lasting. Of course, all had the
same final result: death. The cross brought a finality in every area of
a man’s life. He was dead to the world; dead to his friends and
family; dead to his pride and ambitions; dead to self interests; dead to
future plans. Yes, the cross ended everything in a man’s life. Paul
said; “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but
Christ lives in me.” He went on to say; “I am crucified to the world
and the world is crucified to me.”
Small
wonder then that we hear so
little teaching or preaching on the cross today. Jesus challenged every
one of His followers to take up their cross and follow Him. Today the
church has virtually eliminated any and all reference to the true
biblical message of the cross. This is no more strikingly evident than
in the title of one of the most popular “Christian” books on the
market today, Your Best Life Now.
Let’s
face it, self hates to die and
lose its pre-eminence. We do everything we can to make self look good,
smell good and feel good. We relish those who pamper us, coddle us, fuss
over us and help us. We flock to those who tell us how we can become
even more self-centered and selfish than we already are.
Enter
almost any Christian bookstore and
you will see any number of self-help books dealing with everything from
dieting to dressing for success. The apostle Paul perfectly described
the attitude in much of today’s Church when he warned Timothy that in
the Last Days men would be lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, lovers
of self, more than lovers of God. (II Timothy 3:1-5) It is obvious that
self is the root here. Money provides the means to pursue pleasure in
order to ultimately indulge self’s ferocious appetite. Yes, it’s all
about me and mine. We live in a hedonistic world where our only concern
is, “What’s in it for me?” Let’s face it, if you trace the
source of self to its origin, you arrive at Lucifer’s diabolical plan
to usurp God’s place of supremacy and authority with his own. Perhaps
Lucifer would have coined his autobiography, My Best Life Now.
Every
fallen son of Adam is
driven by this same overwhelming urge to “do it MY way.” But it is
only when self is dethroned that God can take His rightful place as Lord
and Master of a person’s life. Self is so powerful that the only way
to successfully deal with it is through the cross.
Peter
warned that there would come a time when
false teachers would enter the church bringing with them damnable
doctrines… “even denying the Master who bought them…” What could
do more to deny Christ than to live for self rather than for Christ?
One
of the great messages of Christ
was that His Kingdom would tolerate no rivals. He made it perfectly
clear that those who would follow Him would have to follow Him to
Calvary.
Make
no mistake about it: Those
who preach a man-centered message are enemies of the cross and God’s
Kingdom. This whole new emphasis on “seeker sensitivity” places the
focus on man and his importance, rather than on the King and His
Kingdom.
I
suspect that those preaching this “gospel”
are doing more to further the kingdom of Satan than even some of his
most powerful demons.
What
the Church needs in this hour
are not those who are championing the self-life but those who are living
for Christ. We don’t need more leaders who have a vibrant, thriving
self-life. We need men who have learned the secret of dying to self. We
need men dead to themselves and alive to Christ!
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David Ravenhill has worked as a missionary, pastor and teacher for
over 40 years. He shares the passion of his father, Leonard Ravenhill,
for the Body of Christ to return to holy living. For more on David
Ravenhill, visit www.davidravenhill.net
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