S2 E26 - Life Requires Death

Welcome back after an extended absence! We are so glad to have the podcast up and rolling again. Today, our podcast is inspired by a show I have recently gotten into called, "The Crafstman" centered around a master woodworker named Eric. In an episode, Eric was challenged as to how he could cut a tree down and make something out of it. He responded, "Because we have to. For us to live, something has to die, and we need to make the best of it." Well...if that doens't apply to our spiritual nature, I don't know what else could. We are alive because Christ died. The question that remains is this: do we honor that sacrifice? 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

Hey everybody, and welcome back from an extended absence to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together. 

I cannot begin to describe to you how good it feels to be back behind the microphone today. I have grown to truly love this podcast for many different reasons. Not only does it challenge me in many ways to continue to set my mind above along with the rest of you, but other blessings have come from this effort as well. I have built lasting relationships with many of you over the past year that I would not have been able to have done were it not for this platform. I hope you know that when I end each podcast saying that “I love you”, I don’t just say that to say it. I really do mean it, and I love each and every single one of you. With that being said, I want to thank you for loving me over the past month and a half. Taking a step back from the podcast was a hard decision, but it was the right decision. With Kylie expecting our third child, she was in desperate need of my help at home with our other two. It was all hands on deck there for a while as this first trimester was very challenging for her. That being said, we have now arrived at the second trimester and already Kylie is feeling leaps and bounds better than she has in the previous month. She still has hard days, and I still am showing a great deal of flexibility in my schedule for her, but we are truly able to return to more of a routine at this point. With that, we also have the return of the podcast. I am so grateful for your patience, understanding, and support up through today. While we temporarily paused the podcast, I am confident that you never paused setting your mind on things above in your day-to-day life. Neither did I – and I’m excited to share some of the lessons that I have learned recently with you in the coming weeks. 

There was one afternoon over the past few weeks that I particularly wanted to share with you when we started this back up again. I had gotten the kids down for a nap while Kylie was resting and was taking some time to catch up on the laundry I had gotten behind on. As I was folding three different loads, I put on a new show on Discovery+ that is called “The Craftsman”. The show centers around a man well into his 70’s named Eric Hollenbeck, who is a master craftsman and woodworker. In the show, he shares his passion and knowledge that he has acquired over a great many years, which I find most fascinating. As I sat there folding the kids clothes, he started to discuss the impressive nature of Redwood trees – a wood that he worked with frequently there in Eureka, California. As he shared the unique nature of these enormous trees and how they collect water and grow, he stopped and said that nearly every time he discusses this, someone always asks him, “Well, then how could you cut down a tree and make something of it?” His response stopped me dead in my tracks. He said, “Because we have to. On this planet, we’re alive because something else died. That’s everyday of the week. So, if we’re gonna cut a tree down, then make sure that what we make out of it is the very best that we can make out of it to keep the spirit of the tree alive. I think that’s the greatest honor that we can do.” What a powerful statement about the nature of this world we live in. For us to live, something has to die. That’s with everything, isn’t it? For us to eat, something has to give its life for us to survive and eat it. For us to stay warm in a home, or to be clothed, something must be sacrificed. This is how it has been from the very beginning, and it is the way it will always be. His question was simple: do we honor that sacrifice? 

I immediately paused the program, backed it up, and played it again. As I listened to his words, I started to contemplate on how these thoughts not only had great application to the physical nature of this world we live in, but how they apply to the very nature in which we have life in Jesus. Let us begin by examining the text of 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” Therein lies the first point that we must come to understand: in order for us to have life, somebody else had to die. That somebody else could not just be anyone, tainted by sin and broken themselves. That somebody had to be pure, like a spotless lamb, and that somebody was none other than the very son of God, Jesus Christ the righteous. For us to have life, the very author of life had to give us own. None of us could atone for our sin, there is only one thing that could, and that is the blood of Jesus. This is exactly what Peter explains when he wrote, “For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.” (1 Peter 1:18-19) This is the very nature of the good news, the gospel of Christ – Jesus died so that you can live. Rather than stand condemned in our own sin, destined to die, he paid the price with his own blood, so that all those who would come to him in faith can truly have life and life abundantly. But there is more to this than simply recognizing that life is made possible by the death of Jesus, for we must ask ourselves this question: do we honor that sacrifice? Let us consider what Paul has to say in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.” Christ did not die so that we can go back to living a sinful, selfish, and spiritually depraved kind of life that we once lived. By no means should this be our view of the gospel. No, in fact Paul would go on to say that if anyone is in Christ, he is a “new creation” – that the old has passed away and the new has come. To put it in simple terms for us to understand, grace does not simply save us, but it changes us. If Jesus so gave his life in our place, the way in which we live ought to bring honor and glory to his name. We must make the absolute best of the life that we have been given for his namesake, and so allow the spirit Jesus to continue to live in us. Make no mistake, Jesus is risen from the dead and lives & reigns to this day at the right hand of the Father, but he must also live in you. For we read in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So, my friends, what kind of a life are you living? Is the life that you live a life lived for yourself, yet at the expense of Jesus? Or has his death, the very thing that brought you life, changed your inner being to no longer live for yourself & live for him? May we all live in such a way that brings honor, glory, and praise to our Savior, our redeemer, and our King. 

Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode, and I would invite you back Tuesdays-Fridays for a brand-new episode each day. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.