Dead Already

2 Timothy 2:8-9, 11-13

(Hymn of Christian Commitment)

8Never forget that Jesus Christ was a man born into King David’s family and that he was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach. 9And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained. . . .

11This is a true saying:

If we die with him,

we will also live with him.

12If we endure hardship,

we will reign with him.

If we deny him,

he will deny us.

13If we are unfaithful,

he remains faithful,

for he cannot deny himself.

Psalm Link

Psalm 44:22

For your sake we are killed every day;

we are being slaughtered like sheep.

In 1838 newlywed James Calvert sailed from England to the Fiji Islands, but this was no tropical honeymoon. At that time those islands were peopled with fierce cannibals, and Calvert was taking a missionary team with him to share the good news of Christ.

When the ship captain learned of Calvert’s plans, he tried to talk sense into him. “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages!”

Calvert responded, “We died before we came here.”

The Christmas season is no time to talk about death, is it? It’s a celebration of birth, of new beginnings, of joy and peace. But when you think about it, the baby in the manger was born to die on a cross. The “peace on earth” the angels sang about would only come through his sacrificial death.

And Christians are asked to die with him. Jesus called his followers to “shoulder [their] cross” (Matthew 16:24). Certainly this occurs in a spiritual sense. Baptism, Paul said, symbolizes our dying with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). And dead people have nothing to lose, as James Calvert and his team realized. We can take enormous risks for God if he calls us to because the worst that could happen is that we would die and, as this hymn reminds us, live with Christ.

So this hymn shows us that Christianity is about death and life. We serve a risen Savior. And after we die with him, he raises us up.

“Take up thy cross,” the Savior said,

“If thou wouldst my disciple be;

Take up thy cross with willing heart,

And humbly follow after me.”

CHARLES W. EVEREST

A Word on Words

The phrase “This is a true saying” is found four times, with minor variations, in Paul’s pastoral epistles: here and in 1 Timothy 3:1; 4:9; and Titus 3:8. It seems to be Paul’s way of emphasizing certain points.

Notable Quotable

“I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone else gives him his life, I will give him mine.”

JONATHAN EDWARDS