Here is the third principle for Christians to die well – Die to the World.

At the moment that we exercise repentant faith, we positionally die with Christ and become a new creation – we experience justification For we died and were buried with Christ (symbolized by baptism). And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be resurrected to new physical life as he was. (Rom 6:4-5) We are instantly made a “new creation” at the moment of justification. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:27)

Positionally (from God’s perspective), we died with Christ and rose with him (Gal 2:20) at the moment of justification. Experientially, we are new creations (2 Cor 5:17) that are being increasingly sanctified each day – dying to the world and our old flesh. This necessitates our cooperation with the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is the meaning behind Phil 2:12: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The process of “sanctification” is the indwelling Holy Spirit gradually conforming us to the character of Jesus Christ. It begins at the moment of justification and lasts a lifetime. It is never complete in this life, but is gloriously and instantly consummated at the moment of our physical death. There is a sense wherein Christians are dying daily to a fallen world that is in full-scale rebellion against God.

We die to the world’s system of values. Our worldview gradually changes as we align our grasp of reality with that of the Architect of all reality (God). We begin to see – and live – in transcendent truth that the world rejects. We are in the world but increasingly not of the world.

“live in the world as if we were strangers and pilgrims, not citizens.” — The Art of Dying Well by St. Robert Bellarmine

“So if you say, “In what sense has the world died in me?” I say, “The world once was a god to me. It once was my life, and I killed it. I crucified it. I put it to death with its desires. And my flesh died. So my dying to it, and it dying to me, is the same reality. I killed this pseudo-reality called the world, which was posing as an all-satisfying god to me, and my old, blind, foolish self, who worshipped this world, died when I died with Christ. When I think about this, I want to make one qualification, because God made the world. The world is not evil. Material is not evil. Physicality is not evil. God meant the world to be not our god, but a gift. And so maybe the simplest way to say it is this: when you come to Christ and the old world-worshipping self dies, what comes alive is a self of faith in Christ that receives the world no longer as a god, but as a gift.” – John Piper

“I would go even further and say that the first step in conforming our intellect to God’s truth is to die to our vanity, pride, and craving for respect from colleagues and the public. We must let go of the worldly motivations that drive us, praying to be motivated solely by a genuine desire to submit our minds to God’s Word—and then to use that knowledge in service to others.” — Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey

But there is a paradox in the process of sanctification. While we die to the world’s values, priorities and rejection of truth – at the same time, we become increasingly attuned and aware of the incredible beauty and astonishing wonder of material creation as well as the inexorable existence of transcendent values. With new senses, we begin to see and hear things previously unseen and unheard. The age to come (the kingdom of God) which has invaded our fallen age, gradually envelops us. We progressively feel alienated in this fallen world and we awaken to the realization that this world is not our ultimate home. For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven. (Heb 13:14). We become steadily more sensitive to sin, feeling more and more alienated from a world that is fatally infected with sin. We become growingly sensitive and appreciative of transcendent values (eternal values that exist outside space and time) – i.e., moral good, love, justice, mercy, grace, etc. Part of our sanctification is the growing realization and understanding that – in Christ- we are dead to this fallen world.

As we approach physical death, we increasingly lose our attachment to this fallen world and simultaneously foster a growing awareness and strengthening connection to a transcendent world. By way of analogy, we are caterpillars preparing to leave the chrysalis (cocoon) and burst forth at the moment of physical death as gloriously beautiful butterflies.

Part 6 is here