Made Alive

Our culture has a weird obsession with zombies. In fact, you could say they are the fad that just won't die (ba dum tss). I've never been able to understand the craze, it just seems so mindless (ba dum tss--ok, ok, I'll stop). In all seriousness, it is hard to see the appeal of these horrific looking creatures, still more difficult to envision how they inspire television shows, zombie apparel, zombie races, video games, haunted houses, and on and on. Perhaps it is because we are captivated by the dichotomy of the "living dead" a title which seems a contradiction in terms. You may be wondering in what possible world all this has to do with theology... In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul says:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

Did you catch that? Before salvation you were both alive and dead. How can that be? The deadness that Paul refers to is a spiritual deadness. Before God saved you by His grace, you were dead in sin, you were dead to God. And like most dead things, you could not see or hear--you had no ears for the gospel, no eyes to behold the truth of Christ. And so while you may have been physically alive, indulging the passions of the flesh, you were absolutely spiritually dead. In other words, unbelievers are, functionally, the "living dead."

This is why the words of Jesus to Nicodemus "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:3) and again "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:5) are so wonderful. Because we are spiritually dead, we cannot respond to the gospel without God first animating us, making us alive, giving us new spiritual birth. The term for this is regeneration-to make alive again, or to be born again. Our inability leaves us helpless in our sinfulness, but God graciously regenerates believers so that they can respond to the gospel call in faith with repentance. That is why Peter will say "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His abundant mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3) God is deserving of praise in salvation, that He has made us alive to the message of the resurrected Christ!

But here's a question--should something alive look no different than something that is dead? If God has made you alive in Christ, do you still look like you are dead in sin? We must be careful not to be like the fruitless vine in Luke 13, that appeared alive but produced no fruit. When the owner of the vineyard saw this vine he declared "Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil!" (Lk. 13:7)

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Read Galatians 5, and consider the differences between someone who is spiritually dead and living for the flesh, verses someone alive to the gospel living with the fruit of the Spirit. Which are you?