Dead To The World
Let’s open with John 18:36. Jesus has been arrested and is being questioned by Pilate.
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
Now turn to 1 Corinthians 2:12.
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Let’s read one more verse. In John 15:19, Jesus is with His disciples at the Last Supper.
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
What have we seen in these three passages?
? Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world, which means Jesus was not of this world.
? When we are born again, we receive the spirit which is of God, which is not from the world. We receive the same spiritual life that lived in Jesus.
? As children of God, we are not of this world and the world will not be our friend.
Now the first question we must ask is this: What does Jesus mean when He tells the disciples they are not of this world?
Do you see the word “of” in these verses? In all three verses, it is the same Greek word, ek, which is a primary preposition that denotes origin – the point from which a motion or action proceeds. It identifies where someone or something starts or comes from.
In John 18, when Jesus says “My kingdom is not of this world,” He’s saying “My kingdom did not originate, did not come from, this fallen world.”
In 1 Corinthians, when it says we have the received “the spirit which is of God,” it’s telling us that, who we are – our spiritual identity – no longer comes from this world.
In John 15, when Jesus tells the disciples “ye are not of this world,” He’s saying that “After I am raised from the dead, you will be just like me – your place of origin will be Heaven! You will have nothing in you that ties you to this world.”
Now here’s the next question: If we are not of this world, should the things of this world dominate how we think and live? The Bible says that once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are no longer part of this world. There’s a song we song in church when I was growing up: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door and I don’t feel at home in this world anymore.” This world, ladies and gentlemen, is not our home.
As I was thinking about this, I remembered the excitement my brothers and sisters and I would feel when my Mom’s brothers and sister from Minnesota would visit. For however long they visited, our home was filled with “Do you remember when stories?,” laughter and, best of all, lots of food! My siblings and I would eat so much that we would lay on the couch, the floor – where ever there was an open space – and fall asleep. I remember one time when I awoke that Uncle Ray said “Barry, you were dead to the world.”
How many of you have heard that saying? It’s an idiom, or figure of speech, that describes a person who is so deep in sleep that it’s hard to wake him up. Not only that, the person is not conscious of the things going on around him. His sleep is not being impacted or disturbed by outside influences. To a person who didn’t know better, the person sleeping would appear to be dead. That’s why he is said to be “dead to the world.”
Did you know that this saying, when it was first used, did not mean to be so deep in sleep that you appeared dead? The phrase “dead to the world” originated sometime in the 1700s or before and originally referred to a person – now listen closely – and originally referred to a person who had made a decision to be dead to the world and its influences and be alive only to God and religious pursuits.
By the 1800s, “dead to the world” also meant “unconscious.” Over time people began using it to describe sleep from which one could barely be awoken. Do you see how its meaning began to degenerate and have no relationship to serving God? By the early 1900s, people sometimes even used “dead to the world” to describe someone who was extremely inebriated.
Ladies and gentlemen, it took Satan a little over 100 years to degenerate a figure of speech that described a person who placed a high value on a vibrant relationship with God to one that described a person who is so deep in sleep that no one could awake him. Then, in another 100 years or so, Satan is able to degenerate “dead to the world” once again, this time to mean a person who is drunk or an alcoholic.
A person who is “dead to the world” is a person whose life most resembles that of the life of Jesus that we see in the four gospels. Here’s what I mean.
Being dead to the world means –
? The world does not influence how you think.
? Your emotions don’t dominate how you respond to situations and circumstances.
? You do not value what the world values.
? You see things the same exact way God sees things.
? Does not mean the world sees you as dead. Now let this one sink in. When we are dead to the world, the world is not going to like us one bit. It is going to hate us. It is going to know we are alive and living for the kingdom of God!
Turn to Romans 6:1-2. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? How many of you know that if you are dead to something, it no longer affects you? And that is exactly what Paul is saying here. We are dead to sin! It can no longer affect us – unless we allow it to “raised from the dead” in our lives. Are you hearing me?
Now look at verses 7 & 8. “For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” What causes us to be dead so that we are no longer slaves to sin? We accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Ephesians 2:5-6 says God “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) And hath raised us up together [with Christ], and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The word “quickened” means “to be spiritually alive.” Ephesians tells us that when God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him spiritual life, He also gave us that same life – at the same time!
Now look at verse 11 in Romans 6. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Even though we are born again, even though we have a spiritual nature just like God, we have to choose to live in that spiritual life.
That’s what Paul means by “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.” That’s not a problem spiritually. But, when we get born again, our minds and our bodies are not affected. The only way we can “reckon” ourselves dead is if we allow our God-given spiritual life to govern how we live.
Turn to Colossians 3:1-4.
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Now that we have been risen with Christ, we are to seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness and to love the things of the kingdom (Matthew 6:33). That is what verses 1 and 2 are saying. Verse 3 says we are dead. What are we dead to? We are dead to the things on the earth. Do you see this? But more importantly, we now have our life with Christ, who is our life! Translation: We live for Jesus Christ!
The Bible says “WE ARE DEAD!” The Bible also says that the life we have is hid in Christ. It is now in union with and is exactly like the life Jesus has. So when Jesus says we are not of this world, He’s saying that we are just like Him – dead to this world because of the life that lives in Him and us!
Ladies and gentlemen, when we make a decision to be “dead to the world,” 1 John 3 declares that the world will not know us – will not understand us, will not agree with us, will not accept us.
“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2)
Ladies and gentlemen, when we are dead to the world, our sole focus will be the same as Jesus’. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 18:11)
The more we are dead to the world, the more of the life of God can flow through us. And that is exactly what we see in Jesus in the four gospels. Ladies and gentlemen, make a decision today to live in your deadness! Amen?!?
