Happy Sabbath!
I am in Virginia speaking to 92 girls in the dorm at SVA. What a joy it has been so far! Thanks to Chris for teaching!
Question of the Day: What does freedom mean to you?
Today we are starting Chapter 6. This is a fantastic chapter that I am so disappointed I won't be there for! I always learn sitting in class with each of you!
READ: Romans 6: 1-4
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Would you like to live a new life?
Is this really possible?
So we are baptized and then poof we are new in a new life? All shiny and clean? Sometimes I read this and then I feel like a failure. Let's keep going.
READ: Romans 6:5-7
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
I have to say being set free from sin sounds heavenly. (no pun intended!) Seriously! I can't begin to express how this freedom is so needed in our lives, in my life!
How do we practically do this?
Have you ever been enslaved? Have you ever been set free?
Is this a all at one time, once and for all thing or is it a process?
Can it be both?
READ: Romans 6:8-14
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
What is verse 11 saying?
What about verse 13 or 14?
I think we need to keep going...
Read the rest of the chapter.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Be careful to not try to assume too much from this passage. What do I mean by that. I have said it every week that we have been studying Romans, it needs to be done all at once. We need to read the whole book, (I hope you are doing that in your bible reading time.) More detail is coming, more about the struggle, more about doing things he doesn't want to do, etc, etc...
So what is this passage saying?
Become a slave to Christ.
How do we do that?
What is the baptism symbolizing and how do we live it?
How do we die with Christ?
Can we all agree that with sin there comes shackles?
You all know that Chris and I have been working on shrinking... People are always talking with me about how hard it is, and they are right it isn't easy. It may not be easy, but, there is a freedom that I have found. It is a freedom that comes from nourishing my body instead of medicating it with things I was eating to numb emotions. I have found I am now a "slave" to foods that feed me, not medicate me.
How do we let go of the shackles of sin and live enslaved to Christ?
What needs to die?
How do we live?
Everyone of us needs to die to self, and live in Christ.
What about verse 13
13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
This is not a partway, half way decision or action. "Offer every part of yourself to him..."
I want to sum this chapter up like this... This chapter is about the decision. Who are you going to make a decision for? Are you going to ask Christ to have every part of you? Are you giving him Sabbath morning or everyday of the week? Are you willing to die with Him so you can live with Him? Are you willing to stop picking parts of yourself that you give Him and jump all the way?
Oh His grace completely covers you! His grace is greater when we sin more... but He wants us to LIVE with HIM!!! Not just someday in heavenly places, but right here and now. He wants you to be free from the shackles of death and live enslaved to righteousness.
Practically we do this but simply accepting His grace, standing in His grace, and offering Him all of you!
This is very much like a marriage. I can't be partly married to Chris. I can't decide that I'm "married" to him on Sunday only, but all the other days, well... those are mine. I can't say that as long as I cook for him, the rest of me and my talents and desires can be for whomever. No I'm married to Chris! I have given him my everything! That doesn't mean I love him perfectly, or that we have arrived. I am however completely and fully married to him!
Are you completely Christ's?
Today, will you again, will you for the first time say...., "Lord, I am yours. Take all of me! I'm not just giving you Sabbath me, or the devotional time me, but all of me. Lord, I want to die today with you and I want to live with you always! Lord, teach me how to live with you! Lord I want to claim verse 22, 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. I want to be set free, I want to reap all the benefits...and live with you...now and forever."
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