Come Forth

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

--Ephesians 2:1-7

Let's talk about dead people.

A few years ago, I saw this movie called Warm Bodies. It was really stupid, but at the same time, it was fascinating. The whole storyline is about this zombie who learns to love this girl, and then he becomes human again because he responds to her love. At the end, he falls into this pool of water and emerges completely renewed, as if he had never died. As I watched it, I was like, "Somebody who wrote this movie read the Bible." I mean, the reference to baptism and new life was blatant. So even though the movie was really stupid, I appreciated it because of the obvious spiritual symbolism. I'd probably watch it again, except no one will watch it with me because it was so stupid.

The above passage from Ephesians says that you were dead. Paul doesn't mean that your flesh was dead. He means that your spirit was a zombie before you met Christ, and your response to Him made you alive again. 

Think about a dead person....like, laying in their coffin. I know it's morbid, but go with it. If a person is dead, can they really think to themselves, "I'd really like to be alive again"? Can they say, "Hey, Jesus, come resurrect me!"?

No. They're dead. They can't think or say anything.

Lazarus was brain dead. He didn't have the ability to think "I wish Jesus were here right now so He could raise me from the dead." He had no part in the choice Jesus made to resurrect him. He was a corpse. All he did was lie there until his flesh, heart, lungs, brain responded to Jesus' loving command to "come forth."

Are you beginning to draw some parallels here?

YOU were dead. YOU were a corpse. YOU were senseless of anything other than your flesh desires and your worldly mindsets. And then Jesus came and said "(Insert your name), come forth." 

My mom likes to say that Jesus had to use Lazarus's name--"Lazarus, come forth!"--because, if He didn't, everything that was dead for miles around would have started coming back to life and walking the earth. It's interesting when you think about it. He said, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). His very words bring everything to life, because everything was created through Him (Colossians 1:16). Jesus IS the resurrection. He IS the definition of "life." When He speaks, even dead things respond. Zombies can't stay zombies in His presence. 

HE IS LIFE. You don't even know what life is until you meet Him.

I'm not trying to argue predestination or anything here--heavens no!--like we have no choice in the matter. I'm merely stating that, yes, you chose to respond--but you never knew love or what you should even be responding to until He showed you.

So let me ask you this: If you had no part in your resurrection, what makes you think you can take over now that you're alive? 

Read the passage of scripture above once again. Who is doing the action? It's all God. We are the direct object of God's mercy. HE raised us up, HE made us alive, HE seated us with Jesus, so that HE 

could show us the riches of our inheritance in Christ. It doesn't say, "He raised us from the dead so that we could then start earning our salvation." In fact, it says the opposite. 

Later, this chapter says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (2:10). 

I promise that if you quit working to earn His favor and just allow Him to speak life over you, walking closely with the Holy Spirit--submitting all your ideas and desires to His will--He will do a greater work in you than you could ever do in yourself. You will find yourself so much more righteous, so much more holy, so much more godly than you ever thought possible. He knows much better than you what you ought to look like.

Jesus gave you life, and He is more than capable of leading it, too.