“Homicide Victims Rarely Talk to Police”
That’s right! No… really? Not never, “rarely.” I love watching “Headlines” on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show.” This actual headline (and many others) makes me wonder who actually is editing these stories. I know we all make mistakes and I myself am not immune from typos and blatant errors in spelling and grammar. But I don’t employ anyone full-time for the purposes of editing or proofreading. This is one of my many pet peeves in life.
In our Wednesday evening Bible Class we discussed the problems of jumping to
conclusions, making faulty, premature judgments, gossip and the life changing/damaging consequences of these actions. During that discussion I was reminded of the old adage, “ Dead men tell no tales.” Simply stated, someone who is dead cannot reveal any secrets… ever!
The application to the Christian life is profound. In Romans 6:1-11 we read:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What the Spirit is saying through the inspired pen of Paul is that when we are baptized the old man of sin must be put to death. There must be a conversion that takes place and not just a ceremonial dunking! When the old man is laid to rest in baptism a new man emerges to walk just as Christ walked.
The dead man cannot lie, gossip, be a talebearer, cheat, steal, judge unrighteously, or continue to live in any sin. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul said that:
“Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
Notice he said they had been these things, but they were no longer. Part of their justification and sanctification through their washing in baptism was that they had “put to death” the old man and his ways.
Did you catch the grammatical error in the first paragraph? One of my pet peeves is not that I do not have a full-time editor employed to proofread my writings but that such blatant mistakes are overlook by professional editors. God doesn’t miss the errors as we often think, hope or wish He would. He expects us to correct them through humble obedience and faithfulness. Thereby relying upon the precious blood of His Son to cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness.