Why Jesus Requires us to Lose our Life

"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke much about death, not only about physical death when our breath ceases and our bodies corrupt, but also about spiritual death when He said: "If any man will come after Me let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Again He said, "Whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25). And again, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).

Death is death, and DEATH HURTS whether it be physical or spiritual. We must all face physical death one day unless the Lord comes first, and it will hurt us to die as it hurt Him physically to die. It hurt Him to leave His Father's presence and glory and to take a body that could experience the agony of death by crucifixion. "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).

But He spoke more often of dying to self than of physical death, and this spiritual dying hurts just as much as physical dying, and sometimes more so because we have to do it "daily"—sometimes many times a day.

His plan for us

The Lord has planned that we should die physically one day, but His plan for us right now is that we should die spiritually—not that our spirits should die, for they are eternal—but that our self-life should die. Our self-life is that part of us that wants its own way instead of God's way—that wants to reign instead of allowing Him to reign.

But how can our self-life die without our spirits dying—for are they not part of us? Well, let us look at man as God made him. Man basically has three parts—BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT—and God has made them distinct and separate in substance and function though fused together in a wonderful way to make MAN.

The BODY is the physical part that we can see and examine and which corrupts after physical death. The SOUL is made up roughly of the emotions, the mind and the will—that part which expresses our personality and makes us different from each other. The SPIRIT is that part of us that shall never die—that can be born again—that invisible eternal spark of God-life that makes us akin to Him—that part of us that can commune with God and know Him.

Body, soul and spirit

The boundaries, functions and limitations of the three parts of man are very defined. They are not of the same element, dimension, or substance at all. They are utterly different, and although the body might influence the feelings of the soul, and the soul might wrongly influence the spirit, they are each a different dimension in themselves in substance, element and character. But the three are man.

We cannot contact God with our bodies or our souls but our spirits only. And God in turn works through our spirits. Our bodies do not have the same nature as God, but neither do our emotions or our thoughts so they cannot be joined with Him. Our spirits alone have the same nature and can be gloriously joined with God.

The unity, one-ness and fusion and identity of our spirits with God as part of us and we are part of Him, for "In Him we live and move and have our beings," is more real than any of us realise—how else could He be "closer to us than breathing and nearer than hands or feet?"

As regards our spirits, Watchman Nee writes:

"One remarkable thing is that God does not mean to distinguish between His Spirit and our spirit. There are many places in the Bible where it is impossible to determine whether the word 'spirit' indicates our human spirit or God's Spirit. Bible Translators from Luther down to present-day scholars, who labored on the English versions, have been unable to decide if the word 'spirit' as used in many places in the New Testament refers to the human spirit or the Spirit of God. Who can discuss how many times in Romans 8 the word 'spirit' refers to the human spirit, and how many times to God's Spirit?"

What a remarkable thing. Here indeed is communion. Here indeed is fusion, unity and one-ness. What a wonderful thing that often in God's Word you cannot tell whether it is God's Spirit or the human spirit. They are certainly meant to be one.

The union and fusion of two bodies physically can create and produce. The union of minds also can make and create amazing things. But just think of it—what can this fusion of God's Spirit and ours do to bless others and our generation. We are certainly "labourers together with God."

If we spend our lives and work in the realm of the mind or soul or "outer man" that was meant to "perish" we will never really bless the world and our generation. But if we are prepared to accept God's plan for the crucifixion of the "old man" and allow God, instead of ourselves, to work through our spirits, this world is going to be better off because we lived.

Dying hurts

This experience is not something dependent upon our souls working through our spirit but the Spirit of God working through us. It does not depend upon our efforts but God. It is not our cleverness and good thoughts that produce it. It is not our memories that inspire it. It is not our joy that produces it—our joy now, and our memories, and our good thoughts, and right motives, and good works, come through our spirit from God, and remain solid and stable as God is solid and stable, and not effervescent and fluctuating as they necessarily are when inspired by man. No longer up and down and fluctuating but now "steadfast and immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord." God is a far better foundation of good living and fruitful service as we "abide in Him" than the frail feeble efforts of man's mind and effort.

There is only one Scriptural future for the "old man" or "outer man," and that future is death, AND DEATH HURTS, and that is something the Lord will take care of—"He must increase but we must decrease." The earthen vessel has to be eclipsed by the Treasure within. We have got nowhere by being concerned about the Alabaster Box and admiring it—it has to be broken that the fragrance of the ointment might do its work.

It is not enough to know these things and that God's Spirit is there, as it is not enough to know that there is life in the corn of wheat—the life is there all right, "but unless the corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies it abides alone."

And we don't want to "abide alone" and neither does God and resolutely and persistently day by day, He is working "breaking the Alabaster Box," "crucifying the old nature" and "cracking the grain of wheat," for it is only as this is done that His Spirit will work, blend and flow through our spirit, instead of our spirits being poisoned, polluted and influenced from a dead suppurating self life. So day by day, right now at this moment, as the heartaches, disappointments, frustrations, all planned and allowed by the Lord, come into our lives let us remember that all is well and has to be for it is the only way. "Crack that corn of wheat" and "break that Alabaster Box" that the "Treasure" might be seen and not the "earthen vessel."