Crucified to the world

Paul said in

Gal 6

14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

What a strong statement of his faith this was! He was so mature in his faith that the world was dead to him. Paul didn't care what the world thought about him. He had lost any ego he may have had in being high in the Jewish hierarchy as he was earlier in his life. He had had a real social position and some power! He was popular with his friends. He gave that up. He gave it up to such a degree that those who were cheering him on when he was persecuting the church were after his life later on. He just didn't care what they thought.

We often sing Galatians 2:20, which talks about this.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

You can't leave things in this life behind without Christ. He is part of leading a new life.

So often, we are hesitant to cast aside what the world offers us. I don't want to give up this or that. I can't. It's too precious to me.

Paul talked about the life he left behind in

Phil 3

 4Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

   5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

   6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

[So, in Hebrew circles, Paul was a popular guy.]

 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul makes this big turnaround in his life and turns his back on his old ways. Where he was popular he becomes a nobody. Where he was an enemy of Christ, he becomes one of his greatest helpers...even to the point of calling himself a slave to Christ. Where he led a life of security before, he later led a life in which he experienced beatings and danger of death in teaching the truth.

Paul had realized how much of a problem it causes for a Christian to care about the opinion of the world. What will people think of me if I am a Christian? If I avoid them when they're behaving badly. If I don't do all the same things they do during the weekend.

Paul talks more about how we to the world with Christ

Romans 6

   1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

   5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin– 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

   8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

   11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

How can we leave behind an emphasis on worldliness? How can we leave behind an emphasis on possessions and fitting in? How can we give up what is popular for something that is thought of as foolish by the world? We can look around us and see those who will do anything to fit in. We can see young people doing almost anything to distinguish themselves from those around them. Piercings and tattoos to the point of looking ridiculous. What do they accomplish? They are all individuals, except for being just like those they want to fit in with. As a Christian, God asks you to do something that will make you unpopular. You'll find in life that's what really takes courage...to do something that makes you unpopular and not care about it. So, while everyone is trying to distinguish themselves from others by fitting in (which doesn't make sense), we are distinguishing ourselves from others so that we don't fit in.

Sincere Desire

You can see in Paul's behavior a sincere desire to follow the truth. He wasn't putting on a show for anyone. He wasn't trying to fool anyone with the way he was acting. He wasn't trying to fit in with anyone. He was going to be who he was going to be because it was right. He had an enthusiasm.

Likewise, in his advice for elders, Peter talks about how they must be an elder because they want to...not because they want lots of money for it or because they feel they must because nobody else will...but because they want to.

1 Peter 5

 1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Like being a Christian in general, you do it because you want to...not because you have to or because someone makes you. You have to want to do it. You have to realize the importance of it for yourself and do it because you want to.

Youth

This idea of being crucified to the world can seem like such a difficult idea when you're younger. People worry about what others think and perhaps more so, younger people. There are times in your life as a young person where you just feel like you're going to die if you stand out in some way or don't go along with those closest to you. You want to have friends. You want to fit in with those around you. But you should ask yourself how far you'll go to fit in. How far will you go to be accepted by your friends? Do they require things of you that you know are wrong before they'll accept you?

In 1^st John 2, we read:

12I write to you, dear children,
      because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,
      because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children,
      because you have known the Father. 14I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,
      because you are strong,
      and the word of God lives in you,
      and you have overcome the evil one.

   15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

We read about young men overcoming the evil one. That's a very good way to handle your life. Overcoming this tendency we have to give in to whatever is around us. If you want to, there is plenty of stupidity out there just waiting to lead you around. Young people put pressure on eachother to do things that will affect them the rest of their life. That's an interesting thing about making a mistake in your youth. Just because you're young doesn't mean that you won't face consequences that might last a lifetime.

It can be difficult in your youth to realize how temporary the world is and how short life is. Perhaps you feel like it will last forever. It won't. As Saul talked about in Ecclesiastes, everything under the sun has been done over and over. To serve God is the only real way to get something worthwhile done.

Replacing the bad with good

We often talk about the point that it isn't enough just to get rid of the wrong in your life, but you have to replace it with good.

Ephesians 4:28 says

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Sure, he stops his life of theft, but that's not all. He begins to replace it with charity and helping where he had only taken before.

Likewise, how can we do this very difficult thing, being crucified to a world we live in?

Col 3

  1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

   5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

So, the question is answered. Set your hearts on things above to replace the things in this life that you leave behind. Paul talks about empty things like sexual immorality, greed, rage, slander, and filthy language. Christ can fill that space where there is emptiness.

What it takes

But Jesus talked directly about doing whatever needs to be done in your life to follow Christ...even if your family forsakes you because of it.

Mat 10

 34“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father,
      a daughter against her mother, a daughterinlaw against her motherinlaw–
      36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.’

   37“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

This is a great distance to go for God. Being willing to follow Christ even when your own family is against you for it. It can be very painful, but Jesus doesn't want us turning away from him just because our parents or spouse or friends shun us because of it. And this is where that sincere desire is tested.

Danger of fitting in

We read about the alternative of being crucified to the world in

Hebrews 6

   4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Jesus was crucified for our sins. When we lead lives of sin, it's as if we're doing it to him over and over. However, when we join him in dying to this world, we do something much greater. We allow him to fulfill his goal for us.

We've read over and over in this study about the importance of dying to the world with Christ because some day we want to rise with Christ. We read about sincere desire. We read about overcoming evil in youth. We read about replacing the bad with the good. We read about doing whatever it takes. We read about the danger of giving in to the world.