September 14, 2023

Romans 6:1-14 (HCSB)
The New Life in Christ
6 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. 5 For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death,we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider 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 desires. 13 And do not offer any parts[i] of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

BJ Stahlin
Buried in death, risen to new life. Kinda sounds like Jesus’ words of being born again to Nicodemus, right? Have you ever been pulled over for expired car tags, not stopping at a stop sign long enough, or for speeding? As you see those lights in the rearview mirror and the officer steps out to approach your car, your heart starts to race, palms get sweaty, you call yourself “big dummy”, the sinking feeling in your gut. How much is this going to cost me? We’ve been caught red handed and know we are guilty. Do we feel the same when we disobey? We’re reminded we are guilty before a holy God, yet how often do we peel out to get back to normal life after being “pulled over"? How often do we hand ourselves over to the enemy “as weapons of unrighteousness”, rather than submitting “to God as weapons for righteousness"? Jesus paid that fine and took the punishment. You are no longer under condemnation. Paul reminds us we are a new creation, dead to sin, alive in Christ. Remember the increasing/decreasing in John 3:30? What a marvelous grace!