Dying Daily

There is much misunderstanding about our death with Christ on His cross and our taking up our cross to follow the Lord Jesus daily. T. A. Hegre does much to clarify this in his book The Cross and Sanctification (originally titled Three Aspects of the Cross):

"Now there are many that think this second aspect of the Cross is a daily dying. But the context very plainly tells us that it is a definite crisis experience, for Romans 6:10, 11 says Christ 'died unto sin once: . . . Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin.' This must be a crisis experience, a definite break with sin, a definite break with bondage to the flesh. If this is still a daily experience with us, it must be because we have not utterly denied self, we have not renounced all that we have, and we are still making provision somewhere for the flesh. God's Word says, 'Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof' (Rom. 13:14).

"Here, then, in this second aspect of the Cross of Christ, is God's provision for the old man, for carnality--namely, death. There must be a willingness to die to the old life and all that pertains to it, and then a trusting the Holy Spirit to make real in us what God's Word promises. God's provision is to 'put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; . . . and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth' (Eph. 4:22-24).

"Finally, there is still a deeper meaning of the Cross of Christ, a third aspect: Christ Crucified IN Us--Our Indweller, which deals with the physical man, or humanity. It is here we have a daily experience of the Cross. Jesus said unto them all, 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me' (Luke 9:23). This deeper experience is not a daily dying to sin, but a daily bearing of the cross, and is necessary . . . for several reasons: for the control of the body; for sacrificial living; for a spirit of brokenness; for intercession for others; and for warfare against Satan and spiritual hosts of wickedness.

"First, we shall very briefly consider the control or discipline of the body. Though the old man (which was in bondage to the devil and the world) has been crucified, yet the new man needs to be brought into full subjection to God. Even though we have been forgiven our sins, and also have been cleansed from all sin, there must be right living and growth, and full adjustment to God and His purpose. Genuine though the blessing of sanctification may have been, it is not a state of grace from which we can not fall. It may be lost. It is necessary therefore to live a disciplined life--'to keep under the body and bring it into subjection' (1 Cor. 9:27 A.V.).

"In the old life, the body was an instrument of sin and under the dominion of the old man (which was energized by the devil); the body itself was not sin but was an instrument of sin; the body was not bad, but was simply under the wrong management. But as we have seen, that old management can come to an end. Through the wondrous working of the Cross, in place of the wrong disposition (the old man), God gives us the disposition of Christ. Therefore we are admonished, 'Neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God' (Rom. 6:13). The body has appetites, desires, urges, and passions which are not wrong in themselves; but if these are not controlled by the Holy Spirit, they will become wrong. For this reason we must keep the body under the control of Christ and bear the daily cross.

"Christ himself had to bear a daily cross to keep His body under the control of the Holy Spirit. We are told concerning Him that 'Christ also pleased not himself' (Rom. 15:3). He did not have a sinful nature, yet He had to stay under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He lived only to please God. His daily cross was not always seen, but it was a cross nevertheless. For instance, as He was tempted of the devil in the wilderness, He fasted for forty days and then became hungry. Under ordinary circumstances would it have been wrong to eat? No. But Christ did not eat, for this suggestion to eat was a temptation from the devil, and therefore to yield would have been sin. So, even though Christ's body demanded food, He pleased not himself but chose to trust the Father to feed Him whenever His Father's purpose in the wilderness had been fulfilled.

"To sum up this working of the Cross in the control of the body, we will use again two simple illustrations. First, our eating. It is not wrong to eat, but it can become wrong if we eat too much or too often. Just here we need the continual application of the Cross to keep our body under control. Second, our sleeping. Of course sleep is not wrong; it is necessary. But we know sleep can become wrong if we sleep when God wants us to be awake. Lest our bodies become again the instruments of sin, we must bear our cross and not please ourselves. Moreover, every other appetite and desire of the body--even though the appetite is not wrong in itself--must be kept under the control of the Holy Spirit.

"Great confusion exists right here. So many locate sin in the body, thinking that sin is something material, that it is a sort of 'lump of something' that either must be removed by some kind of spiritual surgery, or that must be retained as long as we are in the body. But sin is not material and does not have its seat in the body. Sin, rather, is in the soul, in the spiritual part of man. Sin is a tendency, an attitude, a wrong way of looking at things. Sin stems from self being at the center of the life. But when we surrender fully to Christ and trust Him to forgive and also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (through the Cross), then sin is removed and the taint gone. The heart that is pure and filled with perfect love is ready for the anointing with the Holy Spirit. But even then, lest we again begin to please ourselves, we need the daily application of the Cross to maintain the decision made in the crisis of sanctification.

"Yes, we need the daily outworking of the Cross not only in disciplining the body but also in sacrificing the body. That others may live, we must be willing to sacrifice all, even life itself. This is what the Apostle Paul means in 1 Corinthians 15:31 where he says, 'I die daily.' The context is very plain and shows clearly that the reference is to physical death. This is not speaking about sin; this is speaking about Paul's physical body. Daily he was willing to hazard his life to death. The preceding verse says, 'We also stand in jeopardy every hour' (1 Cor. 15:30), while the following verse declares, 'After the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus' (1 Cor. 15:32). To apply this passage to 'death to sin' would require the greatest stretch of imagination and the greatest liberty in exegesis. Here Paul does not refer to sin at all, but to his willingness to sacrifice his life that others may live. We have this truth further explained in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12: 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; . . . For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, . . . So then death worketh in us, but life in you.' Thus, not only must our body be kept under control (so that does not rule us but we rule it), but also this undisciplined body of ours must be used for others. In order that others may live, we must be 'broken bread and poured out wine.'

"In Romans 12:1 we are exhorted to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God--'holy and acceptable.' But man in his natural state is not holy; he is not acceptable. Controlled by the old man, the body is neither holy nor acceptable. Only the man who has experienced the crucifixion of this old life (the second aspect of the Cross) can present himself to God as a living sacrifice. Thus this third aspect of the Cross goes on to deal not with sin but with the physical body (or humanity), that our bodies may be kept under control and sacrificed so that others may live.

"This is the secret of fruit bearing which the Bible and all nature tells about: 'Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit' (John 12:24). This verse does not refer to surrendering the old man (self-life) to God, for we do not plant bad seed but good. This verse refers to handing over the new life to God to plant it so that thereby it may bring forth fruit. In order to make bread for others, God will break the one who has already been cleansed from sin, and has already been liberated from the domination of self, the world, and Satan.

"There is another application of this third aspect of the Cross--intercessory prayer. This, too, has nothing to do with sin, but rather with the outworking of the purpose of God in the new man. Intercessory prayer is not mere praying for someone. It is 'the supplication of a righteous man [that] availeth much in its working' (James 5:17). Moses broke out in a great sob as he prayed for his people who had exchanged their Deliverer and Supplier of every need for a golden calf. This was no ordinary prayer. This was not just a prayer for someone's blessing. Moses said, 'Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; but if not, blot me . . . out of thy book which thou hast written.' So great was Moses' burden, his agony, his intensity that he could not even finish the sentence. Moses offered himself. It was as if he were saying, 'God, You can do anything You want with me--only save the people. If it be possible for me to bear their sin, I will.' Of course his offer was rejected, for there is only one sin-bearer--that is, Christ. However, we see here a depth of prayer that few ever reach. Not many will follow the leading of the Cross to this depth, but the Apostle Paul surely did when he prayed, 'I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake' (Rom. 9:2, 3). This is not an easy path. No experience of sanctification automatically makes an intercessor, and so one must go on from death to the self-life to this deeper experience of the Cross--intercessory prayer. The cleansed vessel must be broken before the Christ within may be revealed in all His glory. The easiest but yet the hardest way of bringing the lost to Jesus is intercessory prayer. 'Who follows in His train?'

"In conclusion, let us sum up the three aspects of the Cross. First, we trust Christ to forgive us our sins. Secondly, we trust Christ to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to fill us with His Holy Spirit. And, thirdly, lest we begin to please ourselves, we need the daily application of the Cross, disciplining and sacrificing ourselves for the sake of Christ's kingdom to the ends of the earth."