During our recent journey through the Gospel of Mark, God has gripped my heart with a vision of truth and a clarity on something that I can’t shake.
Our church needs to die.
We could even say the Church – every Jesus-following, gospel-breathing, Bible-proclaiming ekklesia – must die.
Our pastors need to die.
Our elders need to die.
Our deacons need to die.
All the members need to die.
For as long as we’re clutching onto our lives, we’ll never live. As long as we’re grasping onto Mayfair Bible Church (or any other church) as yours, mine, or ours…it will never live. As long as we’re grabbing onto our desires, we’ll never experience the delight in Christ.
This church must die.
We all must kill the works of the flesh – all that is not in-step with the Spirit’s will or in-keeping with the Spirit’s fruit.
We all must crucify any actions of hand – what we write and do – that fulfills our desires for respect, position, or rights.
We all must die to the footholds that lead us to stomp on others in an effort to achieve higher heights for ourselves.
We all must kill our lustful, envious, or jealous eye wanderings. (cf. Mark 9:42-49)
We all must murder the desire to be known – for ourselves to be known, for the name of Mayfair Bible Church to be known. The only name that we must want known among us is JESUS. Our only aim must be for our community to taste and see the beauty, grace, and truth of Christ in us. When they speak of us, may the speak of Christ. Alone.
We all must die to the desire to be first, top, or center. (cf. Mark 9:34-37)
We all must die to the desire to have things always arranged in perfect order and harmony – real people with real problems are messy.
“Everyone you meet today is God’s idea.” – Dr. Dallas Gatlin
We all must die to the desire for the church to grow by buildings, bodies, and bucks – the 3 B’s of Baptist and Bible church idolatry.
We all must die to the desire to save face in order to keep up the appearance of pseudo-perfection.
We all must die to our attitudes of anger, lust, pride, and holier-than-thou.
We all must slaughter any sin that keeps brothers and sisters and churches divided. (cf. 2 Cor. 10:5)
We all must put to death any thought that rises above the way of Christ
We all must kill the self-centered fears that hold us back from holistically loving our neighbors – all of them, no matter their sin propensities, proclivities, ethnicity, economic status, language, or creed.
We all must die to the desire to own this church for ourselves. Jesus Christ bought the church with His very own blood. So who is the sole owner of the Church with all the rights and privileges afforded thereunto? Jesus! (cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:20; Gal. 3:13-15; Eph. 1:14; Rev. 5:9)
We must crucify the desire to climb into political power.
We must die to the temptation of business strategies, marketing tools, and hype to do what only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.
We all must die. I must die. The church needs to die.
Resistance to this death will make the loss of our church inevitable – the kind of loss that Jesus does not want for the church. If we don’t die to self and sin, then this church will be lost.
But if we come and die, then in Christ we all will live. We, as a church, will live. And we’ll bear fruit…gospel life fruit!
Death to self is the way to gospel life.
“If anyone [or any church] wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
Death is the way to life.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life, in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:24-25)
We die to self and sin to rise again in Christ. Lose your life to find real Life in Him.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. We cry out to You for mercy to fall upon us, as Your followers, so that You may give us the fresh joy of repentance and healing. Grant us the faith and courage to daily crucify the flesh with its sinful and self-centered wants and desires. Chop away the roots of spiritual pride, religious-looking nonsense, and face-saving posturing, so that we can bear genuine, lasting fruit in abundance and for your glory alone.
In and through Christ we pray, Amen.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
You can watch the full message from Mark 9:30-50 at Mayfair Bible Church here:
