“Alive in Christ”

Scripture: Romans 6:1-18

Last week, as we discussed Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, we discovered that it was by the impetus of his great love for us that he was able to carry out the will of Almighty God – that a new way, and a new covenant might be established for the unworthy likes of you and me.

St. Vincent de Paul ran an orphanage in Paris during the first half of the seventeenth century. One winter day he opened the front gate to find an abandoned infant lying in the snow. He brought the bundled baby back into the warmth of the room where he was meeting with a number of wealthy women who helped support the orphanage.
Naturally, St. Vincent asked them what he should do with the tiny, frail creature. One of the women suggested that perhaps God intended for the baby to die, as a punishment for the sins of the mother.
Appalled at this attitude, St. Vincent angrily retorted, “When God wants dying done for sin, he sends his own Son to do it!” This is grace - mysterious, inexplicable, but touching and overwhelming. It is worth devoting the whole of our lives to a response to this grace.
--Taken from Richard P. C. Hanson, The Attractiveness of God: Essays in Christian Doctrine (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1973), 146.

It is the Lord’s greatest desire that none should die because of sin, and he has prepared the solution to our dilemma. Sin, our ultimate failure to show God honor and respect, our breaking of his covenant of life, our turning our backs on his call to our lives, deserves the condemnation of death. And so, because of sin, the ”Perfect One of heaven and earth” gave his life in our place.

Read Romans 6:1-7

Last week, we talked about “justification”. Today, we begin to consider Paul’s understanding of “sanctification”. Justification is our being put in a right relationship with God through Christ’s great act on Calvary, while Sanctification is the process of change that we experience as we grow in faith. Justification occurs in a moment, but “sanctification” is a life long journey.

As Paul writes this chapter, he is focused on our becoming more committed and more resilient in faith, but he anticipates the errant thoughts that others may have. And quite honestly, why shouldn’t someone who is new to the faith think that, since God is Grace, why shouldn’t we help him to become even more through our sin? It almost makes sense. Almost. But it falls far short of the truth.
In last week’s passage, we read “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20) It isn’t that grace in God will increase, but that the grace that comes to us will increase. God’s grace is infinite and it can’t grow anymore. But it will flow in any amount, to anyone, who is in any need of it.

And Paul goes on to explain that more sin in the life of a Christian is not only a bad thing, but a truly unthinkable thing. Christ died that we might be freed from sin, and to intentionally go on sinning is nothing short of arrogance. Taking advantage of God’s mercy is, in and of itself, a sin.
Sanctification is about change – not an excuse to continue in the way we have always gone! Christ died for our sin, and in when we are baptized into his life, we are also made one with his death. In the early Church, baptism was always by immersion, and, of course, many churches still use this method. It symbolized death and burial, and when the person was lifted up out of the water, it signified a new beginning, a new life. And with baptism for today, whether by immersion or pouring or sprinkling, the significance is no different.
He died for sin, and we must die to sin. And when we die with him, we will also be raised into new life with him. As a matter of fact, that’s the only way it can happen – “new” life doesn’t come out of “old” life – it comes out of death to the old life. This concept is why Christians are referred to as Easter people. We are “resurrected” into new life right here and now! We don’t have to wait!

Read Romans 6:8-14

Verse 8 includes a very important word, and it needs emphasis – “IF” we die with Christ, we will also live with him. First death to sin, then life in Christ. We all know folks who think that if they are just good enough in this life, if they do more good than bad, if they are able to balance out their life by showing love to others, that it will be enough. Nothing about Jesus, and everything about themselves. Paul says that it just doesn’t work that way – that it is all about Jesus, and only for us.

The next concept that Paul introduces is that Jesus died once, and has accomplished all that is needed. Death once, then life forever, which tells us that his humanity has accomplished its purpose, and from now on, it will be his divinity that will continue to live for, and beyond, all time. In his human death, he destroyed our sin, and in death, it can never live within us again. Now I also need to say that this doesn’t mean that we are perfect. We aren’t! But the effect that sin has on our lives has been destroyed, and our captivity to sin, our slavery to the way of sin, has been broken. Life in Christ can no longer carry the penalty of death. Period.

Now, the last 3 verses of this section begin to shift our thoughts from what Jesus has done for us, to the way that we must live in him. Remember Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount? In Matthew 6:24, he tells us that we can’t serve two masters – that we have to pick one and stick with him. When we give our lives to Christ, we have chosen our Master. And now it is our responsibility to do his will.
No longer can sin be our guide, it can no longer be our routine. We will still have those temptations, and from time to time, we will stumble over them. But Paul’s point is that we can no longer intentionally follow the ways of the world, and when we do fall, we can no longer stay down. There was a Christian contemporary song out a few years ago that said, basically, that a “sinner” is one who falls down and stays down, but a “saint” is one who falls down and gets up, over and over again. “Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” For now, sin will continue to be a force that must be reckoned with, but because we are under grace, we are under Christ and his redemption. If we were dependent on the law, sin would still have a hold on us. The law suffocates us, but God’s will frees us to do all that he has created us to do.

Read Romans 6:15-18

The issue of slavery has carried a negative connotation for many years. There were slaves who were chained to the oars of Roman galleys. There were slaves in the homes of Jesus’ day, who had no say regarding their lives. We have a legacy of slavery in our own country that we are still trying to set right. Slaves have always been seen as ones who had no life of their own – it was their master’s, to do with as he saw fit, and death was the only release.
Slavery to sin is like that, but being a “slave for Jesus” is something totally different. Yes, it still means that the master’s will is the will for our lives, but it is no longer about endless toil, and endless beatings, and endless agony, and endless struggle. It isn’t a sentence that will only end in death, and it isn’t just a sentence of obedience. It is about a new kind of commitment that comes from Christ, and one that we simply accept. And when we do accept it, the “sentence” of slavery in Jesus’ name is eternal life, and eternal joy, and eternal peace!

A wise, old Middle Eastern mystic once said “I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: 'Lord, give me the energy to change the world.' As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: 'Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.'
Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: 'Lord, give me the grace to change myself.' If I had [only] prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.”
--As quoted in Paul J. Wharton, Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986), 31.

When God’s grace changes us, life takes on a whole new meaning. We “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Now that’s a sentence that we can “LIVE” with!