You see, we talk about the grace and mercy of the gospel a lot as Christians when it comes to salvation, but how much do we apply that to the rest of our lives? We have been shown much mercy and patience and longsuffering by our Creator. How much do we, in turn, exhibit grace and mercy and longsuffering to others? Because of the gospel, we have not received what we deserved. But how willing are we to impart undeserved favor and mercy to others?

The title of the book  – Die Young – seems to be somewhat off-target with the content of the book. I understand the authors are trying to make a play on words with “Die” and “Burying Yourself”, but I spent most of the book trying to figure out what the “young” part had to do with the dying part. Unless I missed it somewhere, that is really never explained. It’s a bit confusing, because the DiMarcos define dying young as living “for Christ and nothing else, to be set free from the bondage of sin and self, and to live a new kind of life.” OK, I get that, but I don’t get where the idea of being young comes into play, especially since in the prologue we read, “no matter how old you are, you can die young”.  So, if dying young has nothing to do with age, what does it have to do with? Like I said, it just seems a bit confusing. I understand their talk of living for Christ and being set free from sin and self. I just don’t get where the young part fits into that if it has nothing to do with age. Perhaps a better idea would simply be to call it “Die to Self – Burying Your Life In Christ”. Since the book is about dying to self, why not just call it that? But hey, I’m just an amateur at this anyway, so what do I know?

Make no mistake, this book makes some great statements and grounds itself in some solid doctrine. Consider these examples:

“A life that refuses to die to self is a life that refuses the very words of God.”

“If God isn’t changing you, then he hasn’t saved you.”

“This movement from death to life isn’t one of human strength or ingenuity but of cross and blood, of Father and Son, of power and might.”

“When you can become content with less you will find more time for what really matters.”

“God’s grace takes away the guilt of man in exchange for the innocence of Christ.”

In attempting to explain this paradox that dying to self is actually living, the DiMarcos use a number of seemingly self-contradictory statements for each new chapter and each new main point. Down is the new up. Less is the new more. Weak is the new strong. Red is the new white. And so forth. There are some good points made in each of these chapters, such as this gem in Chapter 1, Death is the New Life:

“You were made as an image bearer of God. But sin distorts that image, like a twisted funhouse mirror. Sanctification is the process that removes that distortion so that you better reflect the image of Christ; and it requires little of you really – little more than the death of self we are talking about – because as you quit relying on yourself for life, you quit relying on yourself to take part in your own salvation. Your demise frees you from the job of savior in your own life and puts it squarely on Christ’s shoulders on the cross.”

While there are some great points made in this book, there are also some confusing statements as well. I think the authors have tried to take these plays on words – like “down is the new up” and “red is the new white” a little too far at times. Consider these statements which were hard for me to decipher:

“When we let down do its work up will be the result.”

“But this is upside down thinking that results in your up becoming your down.”

“So let’s take a look at some of the more that less can become when it’s less of you and more of him.”

“If your heart has a hard time believing justification by the blood, then consider killing the part of you that would argue against God’s gracious and necessary gift.”

Statements like these are peppered throughout the book and, in my opinion, only serve to confuse the reader who has to stop and replay the words over and over to try and figure out exactly what it is the authors are trying to say. Maybe I’m too much of a simpleton, but perhaps the best thing would be to just say what it is you want to say in simple terms, rather than using a play on words.

In the end, the main theme of the book comes through. And I enjoyed the opportunity to read it. The biblical idea of dying to self is one that is vital to the believer. And this book serves to help the reader in focusing on what that means in the day-to-day life of the Christian. I gladly recommend it to you.

Where we fail and become covenant-breakers, deserving the curse of the covenant, Jesus, our champion, succeeds in his role as the New Adam, the supreme covenant-keeper.

We are not merely redeemed by the death of Christ; we are also redeemed by the life of Christ. his death on the cross reveals the nadir of his humiliation as he bears the curse for us. But that is only part of his redemptive achievement. It is not enough for us merely to have our sins atoned for. To receive the blessing of the covenant we must possess real righteousness. We need what we cannot supply for ourselves. This merit of righteousness is earned for us by Jesus’ life of perfect obedience.

From the Bible story we know very little about the wise men…We are not told they were kings, or even when they arrived in Bethlehem. It is likely, actually, in view of their long journey and of Herod’s command that all children under two years of age be killed, that they arrived when the infant Jesus had already become a young child.

The fact that so little information is given about the wise men clearly shows that Matthew’s interest was not focused upon the wise men themselves. Rather, he was interested in the fact that Gentiles came to worship the Jewish Messiah, and in the gifts they bore. A literary critic would draw special attention to the gifts, for they occur at the end of the story after the child has been found and thus occupy a place of prominence.

It is easy to see why gold is an appropriate gift for Jesus Christ. Gold is the metal of kings. When gold was presented to Jesus, it acknowledged his right to rule…

It is also easy to see why incense was a significant gift. Incense was used in the temple worship…In presenting this gift the wise men pointed to Christ as our great High Priest, the one whose whole life was acceptable and well pleasing to his Father…

Just as gold speaks of Christ’s kingship and incense speaks of his perfection of his life, so does myrrh speak of his death. Myrrh was used in embalming. By any human measure it would be odd, if not offensive, to present to the infant Christ a spice used for embalming. But it was not offensive in this case, not was it odd. It was a gift of faith…

If you have come believing in all that the myrrh, incense, and gold signify, you have embarked on a path of great spiritual joy and blessing. For those are the gifts of faith. Tey are the only things we can offer to the one who by grace has given all things to us.

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
(Luke 2:16-18 ESV)

After the angels had appeared to them, the shepherds of Bethlehem ran down the hill to see the baby they been told about. They came “with haste”…The utterly supernatural took place in the framework of their natural habitat, and their reaction was simple and human: “We’ve heard about this thing; let’s go see it.”.

Let us imagine that we are with the shepherds on those hills in Palestine. We have seen and heard the angels, and we have begun to run to Bethlehem. We come bursting into the presence of Mary, Joseph, and the baby, and immediately we wonder: what are we looking at?

First of all, we are looking at a true baby. He is not an idea or a religious experience. He is a newborn infant who makes noises and cries when he gets hungry. What we are looking at is real, simple, definite, complete. We are looking at a true baby.

There is no reason to think that the baby shows any special manifestations. An artist such as Rembrandt can paint him with emanating from the body, and if we understand the light as symbolic, it is safe enough. But if we think of it as more than that, it is harmful. There is no halo about the baby’s head. Certainly there is no halo around Mary’s head…

As we ourselves have run down the hill with the shepherds, looked at the baby, and heard the shepherd’s testimony, have we believed? If we have, that is a happy thing indeed, for it means we are now Christians.

The Holy Spirit wants us to understand where Christ came from. Paul tells us in Philipians 2:5-7, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”…

If you look again at Philippians 2:7, you notice that there is a comma after “nothing”, and then you have a verb in the present continuous: he “made himself nothing, taking….” There is a link here between nothing and taking.

Alec Mattea, a wonderful scholar and friend of mine, suggests that if we ask, what did he empty himself into? rather than, of what did he empty himself? we will be closer to coming to grips with it.

It’s a fantastic paradox. It’s what the Lord Jesus took to himself that humbled him, not what he laid aside…It was in taking to himself humanity that he became nothing.

It is not by a diminution that he makes himself nothing. It is by an addition that he makes himself nothing. He has not ceased to be who he is.

The great covenant promise concerning redemption was made in its most explicit manner to Abraham…That is what Mary is referring to when she says, “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy to Abraham, and to his seed forever” (Luke 1:54 KJV)…Mary sees now God is going to fulfill all these promises that he has made…

Mary is making a very basic statement here. “That,” she says, “is what is happening.” In other words, we have here a summary of the whole of the Old Testament, and nothing is more important than for us to realize that the whole of the Old Testament is looking forward to this event…

Look at [the children of Israel] as they went to their tabernacle and to their temple taking their burnt offerings and meal offerings and sacrifices – animals being killed, blood being shed and offered, placed before the altar, and so on. What is it all about? What was happening there? Well, the answer is, that was but a covering, as it were, of their sins for a time being…Those sacrifices were by types pointing to the coming of the great anit-type; they did not really deal with sin…

But here is the great fulfillment; and so you will find all the Old Testament and the prophets, psalmists, and seers have seen this. They are looking forward; they know that this is what will fulfill all the promises and bring mercy into the individual experience…

What God did when he sent his Son into the world is an absolute guarantee that he will do everything he has ever promised to do.

Christmas shows us that God is not just concerned about spiritual problems but physical problems too. So we can talk about redeeming people from guilt and unbelief, as well as creating safe streets and affordable housing for the poor, in the same breath. Because Jesus himself is not just a spirit but also has a body, the gift of Christmas is a passion for justice…

Christmas is [also] the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are.

It [God being born as a man] had to happen this way. Only in the complete identification with our flesh could Christ be the second Adam, the perfect man that Adam was not. Adam sinned and died as a man; only as a man could Jesus do what Adam failed to do and be the mediator between God and man. Why? Because only flesh can die…

Think about Jesus as the Tabernacle…

We do not understand the teaching of the Old Testament in all its fullness unless we read it through Jesus Christ – his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. The tabernacle has absolutely no meaning apart from Jesus.

Thousands of years before Jesus, God purposed that there be a tabernacle in order that there would be One who would fulfill the meaning of that tabernacle, who would be the true Tabernacle for us.

Each day, I hope to post an excerpt from that day’s reading. Today’s portion comes from George Whitefield:

What, shall we not remember the birth of our Jesus? Shall we yearly celebrate the birth of our temporal king, and shall that of the King of kings be quite forgotten? God forbid! No, my dear brethren, let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, from wrath, from death, from hell, be always remembered; may this Savior’s love never be forgotten!…

What can we do to employ our time to a more noble purpose than reading of what our Redeemer has done and suffered; to read that the King of kings and Lord of lords came from his throne and took upon him the form of the meanest [least significant] servant; and what great things he underwent. This, this is a history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about…