Living in a DIY World
This goes without saying, but we live in a DIY world, where you’re always just one YouTube video away from being able to fix anything or do anything by yourself.
The Do-It-Yourself videos can show you how to do whatever it is you need to do to fix whatever it is you need to fix all by yourself!
Just last week I needed to fix my lawnmower. It wasn’t acting right. So I did what anyone would do… I looked it up on YouTube to see how to fix it. Sure enough, I found the problem. I took it apart, put it back together, and now it works!
Access, Affluence, and Ability
We live in a Do-It-Yourself culture.
We have ACCESS: the technology to research online and learn how.
We have AFFLUENCE: the money to buy the tools we need.
We have ABILITY: to do what we need to do without the help of others. And if we can’t do it, we have the AFFLUENCE to pay professionals!
This has been a bit of a culture shift over the past few years.
There was a time where, when you needed to know how to do something, you asked an actual person. If you needed a tool that you didn’t have to do a job, you borrowed it from your neighbor. And, if you couldn’t figure it out or needed more help, your friends would come over to help get the job done.
But in today’s world, we’ve become isolated, individualized, and self-reliant.
We live in a Do-It-Yourself world. But that world leaves most people feeling alone.
We can’t do this ourselves.
So it is a holy moment when we realize our need for each other and our need for God. It is a holy moment when we come to the end of ourselves and we realize that despite our affluence, despite our influence, despite our access, despite our ability, there is a point in time when we can’t do it ourselves.
We were never created to do this life alone. We were never created to build the life we build without each other. And we were never created to build this life without God.
The problem we have is that because of our sin, we are separated from God and from each other. This is what sin does: It separates. And it’s a problem for which there is no DIY solution. There’s not a Do-It-Yourself fix for our sin problem.
So when Paul speaks into this problem with this promise from God, this is good news for us. In Colossians 2.12-14, he says this:
“For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were RAISED to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who RAISED Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”
The Watershed Moment
This was a WATERSHED moment for these followers of Jesus living in the ancient city of Colosse. And it’s a watershed moment for us as well. That God has done for us through Jesus what we could not do for ourselves!
This is what happens at the cross, what happens in your baptism, it’s not that your sinful nature is removed so that you will never sin again. NO, it’s better.
In baptism, we SHARE in the benefit of Jesus’ death and resurrection. When we confess Jesus as Lord and walk through the waters of baptism, the penalty of our sin was put on Jesus, paid for by Jesus, so we no longer live UNDER CONDEMNATION because our sin has already been condemned, already been tried, convicted and punished.
Your resurrection into a new life is so important to God that He gave his one and only Son for you!
So now, we live the RESURRECTED LIFE! You were built to RISE!
It is a holy moment when you realize your need for God. When this happens, when you humble yourself in baptism, your old nature, your sinful nature, is cut away. The penalty for your sin was paid by Jesus.
Jesus and the Great Love of God
Have you ever had a watershed moment?
Here’s one definition: “A watershed moment is a turning point, the exact moment that changes the direction of an activity or situation. A watershed moment is a dividing point, from which things will never be the same. It is considered momentous, though a watershed moment is often recognized in hindsight.”
When you learn about the great love of God for you revealed to you in Jesus, when you come to understand that God isn’t out to get you, but that he loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son for you, that’s a watershed moment.
This is what Paul was talking about to the Colossians.
He wasn’t talking about being baptized so you could go to heaven one day. He was talking about dying to yourself, being buried with Christ, being raised by the power of God to live the resurrected life now.
And this is what LIFE looks like. It’s life in Jesus. Life through Jesus. Life because of Jesus. Because…
Jesus is Life.
Die to Live
When you need to fix your lawnmower, it’s ok to turn to YouTube. But when it’s time to fix your life, turn to Jesus.
And just so you know, Jesus doesn’t want to fix you. Jesus wants you to die to whatever it is that is keeping you from building the life He intended you to build. Why? Because we were intended to live the resurrected life.
When Jesus heard that his dear friend Lazarus had died, he went to the place where he was buried. His sisters wondered why Jesus hadn’t come sooner. Perhaps if he had gotten there before Lazarus had died, Jesus could have healed him. That’s when Jesus spoke these words…
“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.”
John 11.25-26
So what’s keeping you from dying to yourself. If you will choose to die to yourself, God promises that you will RISE!
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