• HOW WE ARE TO BE CRUCIFIED
• To be put to death

• Introduction
• “Crucify”—”To put to death by nailing or fastening the hands and feet to a cross.”
• “Cross” (Thayer)—”an upright stake, esp. a pointed one; the well-known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment, borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians.”
• When we hear these words, the first thing we probably think of is the literal cross on which Jesus was crucified.
• However, the New Testament writers often use both words in a figurative sense.

• Introduction
• In some ways, Paul is referring to the meaning of the cross which involves the sacrifice of Christ for our sins and its importance in the preaching of the gospel.
• Thus, we may speak of the cross symbolically as the burden that we must bear in following the Savior.
• We may also talk about being crucified as a metaphor of being put to death spiritually or of putting to death those things which are evil.
• Notice some things that we need to crucify

• Crucify Self
• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no long I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me”.

• Crucify Self
• Jesus had something to say about our attitude toward self:
Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

• Crucify Self
• We need to be careful of how we think of ourselves:
• Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith”.
• Galatians 6:3 “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself”.

• Crucify Self
• Rather than always exalting self, we must learn to put others first:
• Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not mere look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Flesh—lit., meat, muscle tissue, the physical body:
• Luke 24:39 “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have”.
• John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Acts 2:29-31 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he look ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to hades nor did His flesh suffer decay”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Figuratively, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence:
• Romans 8:5-10 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God or it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Thus, we must be careful not to give in to the desires of the flesh:
• 1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation”.

• Crucify The Flesh
• Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law”.
• Galatians 5:19-21 explains the deeds of the flesh.

• Crucify The World
• Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross if our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”.

• Crucify The World
• World—the planet on which we live, or the people of the earth:
• Mark. 16:15 “And He said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.
• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

• Crucify The World
• But often, the evil and ungodliness of the world:
• Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience”.

• Crucify The World
• While we live IN the world, we must determine not to be OF the world:
• Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age”.
• James 4:4 “…therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God”.
• 1 Jn. 2:15-17 “Do not love the world, nor the things of the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one of does the will of God abides forever”.

• Conclusion:
• We see then that this idea of spiritual crucifixion involves putting to death or abstaining from those things which pertain to exalting self, following the flesh, and loving the world.
• However, it does have a starting point:
• Romans 6:3-6. speaks of the symbolism of Christ’s death on our part.
• Have you been crucified with Christ?

By Carey Scott from an outline by Wayne Walker

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