Life or Death: The Watch Letter

Today, as I was preparing for this week's Watch Letter, I came across a note I posted on October 1, 2013. Nine years ago, our Pastor Chief Apostle Gunn shared with the congregation the following:

"Are you operating and living with a pall-bearer or buzzard spirit? Stop carrying around dead things!"

When I read these words it answered so many questions and made a lot of things plain. Are dead things the reason behind our failure or indecision to fully surrender to the Lord?

Matthew 8:21-22: "And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead."

In this scripture, people were coming to Jesus declaring they would follow him or accept the call to follow him. But before one of the disciples would follow him, he wanted to go back to bury his dead father -- even though Jesus was telling him to follow him now.

Those who are of the world may find Jesus's requirement harsh or think he should have given him time to grieve. But Jesus knows what's best for us and there was a purpose to what he told the disciple. Those who are of the spirit can see: Jesus is the definition of compassion, so he knew what the disciple needed most was not to grieve but to follow after salvation.

I believe he was teaching him to let go. He was teaching him that things of the flesh should never have more value than the things of the spirit. He was teaching him that you can't move forward or be focused on doing the Lord's will if you are carrying around dead weight, like a ball-bearer. He was teaching him that our love for the Lord and desire to serve him should outweigh anyone or anything.

The Bible teaches us that there is a time for mourning and a time for rejoicing. Jesus wanted that disciple to see that his going back to bury someone who was dead and had no life in them was not as important as going with him to spread the good news of eternal life to others. One commentary noted that there is no excuse to choose death over life (which is following Jesus) and no excuse to not abandon all for the cause of Christ. But we do it every day. We make excuses to leave Jesus waiting to go after things that will only return to the dust.

Like buzzards, there are dead things in our lives that we keep going back to or we are carrying on inside of us. And, often, we will find ourselves choosing those dead things over Jesus and eternal life. When we become saved we are supposed to let our flesh die (our sinful, worldly, high-minded, bloodline, and fallen ways), but often we don't want to leave it. We want to revisit the grave. Perhaps we have a secret hope that it can be resurrected?

Romans 8:13-14 says: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

If you don't let the things of the flesh die and stay dead and choose to never look back on them, you will not be led by God and you won't be following Jesus, you will be following after things that rust and corrupt and decay. Besides: how can you follow someone if you are always looking back?

Have you ever noted how buzzards circle over and over again above or around dead things? This explains why we often find ourselves circling back to the same old sin, the same old mindset, the same old pride, the same old selfishness, the same old lust, the same old disobedience, the same old wrath, the same old idolatry, the same old idleness, the same old unwillingness, the same old isolation, etc. There are dead things in our lives that we still desire.

Several months ago, maybe even a year ago, I noticed some buzzards circling after the congregation had left the church building and was in the parking lot. I remember noting that the moment was speaking. There were some things among us as a body that were dead that we brought to church with us instead of letting them stay burried. Now, Chief Apostle Gunn teaches us how to live and how to let go of the deadliness of the flesh, but many of us have refused to take that teaching.

So, what are the dead things we are carrying with us and looking back to?

Here are a few ideas:

• A person we didn't want to separate from when God told us to

• A job we didn't want to leave when God told us to

• A habit we wouldn't stop when God told us to

• A desire we wouldn't give up when God told us to

• A seed we wouldn't sow or a tithe we wouldn't give when God told us to

• A family member or tradition we wouldn't let go of when God told us to

• A child we wouldn't stop pacifying or cloaking for when God told us to

• A fashion or style we wouldn't change when God told us to

• A place we wouldn't stop going to when God told us to

• A thing we wouldn't stop watching or listening to when God told us to

• A trespass we wouldn't forgive when God told us to

• A connection from our past we wouldn't break when God told us to

• A sin we wouldn't repent from or a prayer we wouldn't pray when God told us to

• A truth we wouldn't tell when God told us to

• A testimony we wouldn't share when God told us to

• A correction we wouldn't give when God told us to

• An encouragement we wouldn't offer when God told us to

• A division we wouldn't mend when God told us to

• A material thing we wouldn't stop chasing after when God told us to

• A relationship we wouldn't make holy when God told us to

• A commitment we wouldn't make when God told us to

• A thank you we wouldn't say when God told us to

• A praise we wouldn't give when God told us to

• A song we wouldn't sing when God told us to

• A helping hand we wouldn't lend when God told us to

• And the list goes on ...
  

Now, some may say I never directly heard God tell me to give up this or that, but that is not an excuse. Every time we read the Bible or hear the word preached, God is speaking and instructing us. We just choose to ignore it.

And here is the evidence:

Galatians 5

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

There is a such thing as funeral crashers or hoppers. These are people who spend their time attending funerals mostly every weekend. They prefer to be among the dead and be among sadness and grief. They prefer to see people in misery and in despair or going through something worse than them. They feel more comfortable in darker atmospheres. They also attend funerals hoping for free food, catching the eye of the new widow or finding an emotionally distracted love interest, getting their hands on the deceased's possessions, climbing social ladders by mixing and mingling, and more. A lot of times people say they are more drawn to funerals because there are no expectations that come along with death.

How much are we like those crashers and hoppers? How much have we been a buzzard or pall-bearer? When will we choose life with Jesus?

The good news is today you can bury the dead.

Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

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