Sharing in the Death & Resurrection (Part 3 of 3)

Our old self is dead.  It is no longer there. 

The reign of sin is gone.  It no longer has the authority it once had.

Now what?

The death of our old self and dethronement of the reign of sin is not the end.  We not only participate in the death of Christ, but the resurrection as well!  Christ’s resurrection is also our resurrection.  We are risen with him and given life (Rom 6:5-10)…but why? 

A boy is coloring a picture, and in his excitement handles the crayons a little too aggressively and breaks one.  He is upset because he needed that color, but now it is broken.  He looks at his mother as she reaches into the crayon box and pulls out another crayon of the same color.  Why is she giving the boy another crayon?  Is it so he can break it just like he did the last one?  No!  She is giving him one so he can use it for its intended purpose.  To color. 

Our lives were broken.  Sin destroyed us.  What did God do for us?  He sent his Son for us.  Jesus died for our sins, and then rose from the dead to give us life.  Does Christ die, rise, and give us a new life so we can break it again?  No!  He gives us a new life so we can live it out for its intended purpose: God’s glory!  Living out the power of the resurrection means living life the way God intends for us to live it, through the power of Christ’s finished work.  It means fearing God and obeying his commands (Eccl. 12:13).  He didn’t die and rise so you could be an observer.  He did it to give you life with him, life that participates in what God is doing.  He did it to change you.   The whole object of all that Christ has done in his grace is to deliver us finally and completely out of sin and death and to bring us into this new life, which is his own life, which is indeed the life of God.

Sharing in the Death & Resurrection (Part 2 of 3)

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Gal. 2:20

Several years ago, Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, was captured, tried, and hung.  He was killed for his terrorist activity and violence to other humans.  Can he run Iraq anymore?  Absolutely not!  It isn’t just improbable, it is impossible because he is dead.  Even though he cannot rule the country, his violence, policies, and ideas can still be lived out by people within the country and world.  People can act like Saddam still reigns, but truth be told: he doesn’t and can’t reign again. 

Before Christ changed you, sin reigned.  It was sin that ruled your heart, guided you, and had the power.  But upon belief, something happened to sin.  Sin has been killed, which means sin no longer reigns.  We may at times try to act like it reigns, like people did with Saddam, but we must know that it isn’t just improbable that sin will reign, it is impossible. Christ conquered the power of sin, so that what reigns now is Christ.  The power that sin had on us has been nailed to the cross, has died, and was buried.  Christ is now the power in us.  Christ reigns.  Christ gets the last say.  Learn to obey the one who truly reigns instead of listening to the silent whispers of the one whose reign has been forever conquered.   

 

 “Because of my union with Christ, because I have died with him, because I have been buried with him, because I have been risen again, I am dead to sin as a realm and reign, I have finished with it, it has nothing to do with me.” -Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones   

Sharing in the Death & Resurrection (Part 1 of 3)

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” –Rom 6:5-7

We just rearranged our house…it just wasn’t working how we had it.  We moved my office across the house to be further away from the playroom since it was difficult to work in the same room as an adorable 10 month old screaming “papa” (which is what he has decided to call me). 

The other day I was working in my new relocated office when I needed a book.  I stood up, walked across the house, and got all the way to the play room to realize that the book I was looking for wasn’t in this room anymore.  In fact, it was in the room I just walked out of.  I was so used to it being in the other room that I didn’t even think about the fact that the book accessible to me without even leaving my chair. 

We do the same thing in our spiritual lives.  This passage tells us that the old self has been crucified.  Yet we still, figuratively, walk all the way across the house to get something that is no longer there.  Even though the old self isn’t there, we seek to find it.  We, without thinking, go back to our sinful lives, our sinful habits, and our sinful desires…even though that part of us has been killed. 

The death and resurrection has many implications, and one of those is that we share in it.  Our old self has died just as Christ died.  Begin to live out the power of the cross.  Realize that your old self is no longer there!  Stop living like it is there.  It has died, so stop going back to it.  That self was crucified and buried.  Do not dig up what God has buried.  There is a new life you are called to live.  Live it!