Life or Death? Choose One!

In one of the Scripture passages referred to in the Revised Common Lectionary for February 12, 2023, Deuteronomy 30:15-20, (please see here) God, through Moses, offers the Israelites (who were a foreshadow and precursor of the Church) two distinct things, two very identifiable things. God offers the Israelites (and the Church by extension) life or death. (Pick one.) Yes, God was quite clear in what He offers, again, it is Life or Death. In fact, such is a consistently recurring theme in Scripture. Jesus himself spoke of it repeatedly. He declared that he had come to give life, and to give it abundantly. (John 10:10) And Jesus also said that he was the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25) And to reach back even to the “beginning” we see that Adam had an offer of life and death, too. Stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and he would live. Eat its fruit, and he would die. Pretty straight forward stuff it seems to me. Yes, yes…it’s all about choosing life or choosing death. Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Yet, being the carnal, natural, prideful and delusional, “I can figure it out myself” sort of creatures we are, we prefer to believe what sounds good and right to ourselves. Seemingly, we prefer to believe what others tell us is truth as opposed to what God tells us is truth. For instance, let us consider the very first and enduring lie that was uttered in Scripture. We all know what it was/is. And we all know who uttered it. Let’s again consider the matter of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and some dialog in the “midst of the garden.)

As I mentioned already, the man in the garden way back when, was told he would die if he partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And being that God said such to him directly, the man pretty much kept his distance from the two trees (yes, two trees) in the “midst of the garden.” The one being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the other tree being the tree of life. However, the man’s mate, the woman, who had not been told the prohibition by God himself as she was not yet in existence when God told the prohibition to the man, was not so reluctant to check out those two curious trees. So, down she wanders to the midst of the garden where the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life were planted by God himself. (Kind of odd that planting side-by-side, wouldn’t you think?) Anyway, who does the woman immediately run into?  Yes, of course, she runs into Lucifer – and oddly enough, he, in the form of a serpent. (More on that oddity at a later time.) And they engage in a bit of conversation. (I know, a “talking serpent?” Such is poetic license, I suspect.)

But the point here is that the serpent (Lucifer) outright contradicts God and informs our inexperienced and impressionable young woman that in spite of her vague understanding that she would die if she ate (or, in her mind, even touched) the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would NOT die, but in fact, BECOME like God! Now, that sounds far more appealing than what she was led to believe previously. Apparently, she liked what she heard! And, rather foolishly, and as many young people tend to do from time to time, she chose to believe what sounded good, what felt good, what appealed to her rather than trust and believe cold, hard truths told by a loving guardian. Yes, she liked what she heard, and she chose to believe it — although she had not a shred of evidence that what she was told had any validity. She just ran with what she was told by a very odd STRANGER! And, wouldn’t you know it, many, many, many of her “descendants” still believe what Paul labeled “The Lie” (as in singular, definite article. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)) Yes, many still believe we don’t really die, that we just go on and on in one form or another, in one condition or another, and that we are just like God, immortal and self-determining.

Regardless of what the world traditionally believes, the Word of God always trumps our traditions and outright delusions. (To read a short blurb about Tradition vs Biblical Truth from our own NSUMC website, please click here.) It is without doubt better to believe the Written Word of God than to believe the raw feelings of our hearts and the imaginations of peoples, cultures and human institutions. The prophet Jeremiah does not place much confidence in the feelings of the heart. (Jeremiah 17:9)

It is so true, there is a lot of confusion in the world about many things within Scripture, and many are running about seeking the truth. But unfortunately, many are seeking a “truth” that suits their fancy and that will simply make them feel good. It would appear that in many instances, truth may not be the real goal whereas the goasl of self-affirmation and self-satisfaction may well be.

Yes, God, in his written Word, tells us to seek out life and thus, in contrast, reject death. It is an indisputable fact that the natural end of all living creatures and things, be they human, animal, microbes or plant, is death! Yes, death – final and eternal. Yet, Paul tells us that the gift of God, the free gift of God for those who desire and seek out His kingdom, is eternal life through Christ Jesus. Such is immensely worth repeating, since we are sin personified from conception (see Psalms 51:5 & 58:3), the natural outcome for mankind, without the gracious intervention of God via Christ, is death! (Roman 6:23) 

Yes, as God said to the Israelites through Moses,“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days…” And to acquire that promised eternal life which will manifest itself in its reality and fullness at the resurrection, choose Christ Jesus – he being the resurrection personified.  Yes, as was mentioned above, the promise made and the acquisition thereof pretty much seems like a no brainer, doesn’t it? That is, of course, if we get smart and reject the delusions and myths that the “prince of this world” has so skillfully deceived the world with. And that being, “You will surely not die, but be like God!” Oh, how we do love to embrace and accept that lie. So no, reject the Adversary and his appealing deceits where his delusion of some sort of non-death, life beyond death as so many adhere to, really leads to death. Listen to the true Author of life and embrace His free gift of real, resurrected, eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Don’t be fooled! Adam died – he fully died – and not just some part of him died, all of him died. Adam died as in d-e-a-d, dead. Adam’s descendent, David, died, too, and as Peter declared in the Book of Acts, (Acts 2:29) David’s grave is with us still. Not only that, but Jesus said all who await in their graves (euphemism, sleep) on the great Day of our Lord’s return will then receive either the gift of eternal life or condemnation! (John 5:28-29) Be assured, that time is not far off. And so, it would behoove us all to heed the urging of our God and today choose life.

And with that, what else can be said but…

We are waiting, Lord Jesus. Come soon!

Mark Johnson UMC Lay Servant February 13, 2023