For many people, the only time they ever enter a church is for a funeral. In fact, some only enter a church for their own funeral! That’s probably not why you came here this morning. But… maybe it should be. Perhaps the very best reason to be in church is to attend your own funeral—to come here in order to die.
Under the influence of the “seeker church” model, so many churches try to attract people by offering them something that they’re looking for—something they need—or something they want. The hope is that these people will come to value the church and, by association, that they will come to value Jesus.
However I see Jesus taking a far different approach. He says that the only way to find something of real value is to give up on everything else. In order to really live, you must die—the ultimate metaphor of letting go. Surrender is the essence of following Jesus. If you will not let go, you simply cannot go with him. The journey begins with a departure, an exit, an abandonment of everything else for the one thing of true worth: an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus.
How intimate is your relationship with God? If you would honestly say, “It’s not all that it should be,” then perhaps the problem is that you haven’t yet decided to die.
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