I say that Christianity has not
failed.
Instead…
I say that many Christians do not
understand Christianity.
I say that many Christians who
understand Christianity have never really professed it.
I say that many Christians who
profess Christianity it have never really practiced it.
And…
That is why immorality
and indecency are running rampart all over the place.
That is why we can’t have prayers in schools, or nativity scenes in our city squares. And That is why some people want to take “Under
God” out of our pledge of allegiance and “In God We Trust” off of
our coins and currency.
In our Second Scripture Reading for today,
the Apostle Paul is addressing one of the common misconceptions and isunderstandings
concerning Christianity. In doing so, he points out the very essence of true
Christianity and the importance of understanding the basic truths of Christianity.
“What shall we say,
then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no
means! We 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? “ (Romans 1:1-3)
One of the
common misconceptions concerning Christianity actually comes from one of our
principal truths: the teaching of salvation
by grace alone.
If salvation is by grace alone, apart from
works, and God's grace is sufficient to cover all sin, then if we keep on
sinning, it really doesn't matter, does it?
After all, there is plenty of grace to go around, right?
This is
what St. Paul addresses at the very beginning. Shall we go on sinning so
that grace may increase?
Well…shall
we…go on sinning?
The answer
is — by no means! And the reason given is because we died to sin.
A lot of people…
a lot of Christians…
a lot of the members of our
churches really believe that we can go on sinning because so much grace is
available to us, all the time
I had a member of my former congregation tell
me---flat out--- that he would continue to commit adultery on Saturday
night because he could always come to church on Sunday morning and receive
forgiveness. It didn’t matter to him.
He could keep on sinning more and more because there was plenty of God’s grace
available to him. And that is dead
wrong!
The truth
that we need to see—the truth that he didn’t see-- comes
by understanding our present position. You see, our position has changed
because of the death of Christ.
The answer “NO”
to the question of “should we continue to sin, so that grace may increase?” comes
when we fully understand our position in Christ. Our position tells us who we
are. It is the truth about who we are.
If we go through the
first five chapters of the Book of Romans, we discover that we were in bondage
to sin.
Sin
was our master.
Sin was
our way of life.
Sin was in
control of us.
We can state it like
this:
In our former state, before Jesus
Christ came in our hearts and lives, we were alive to sin and dead to
Christ. That was our position. It was the reality. Before Jesus Christ came in our hearts and
lives, we were alive to sin and dead to Christ.
But after
He died on the Cross all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death.
In other words, those who have come to faith
in Jesus Christ not only identify with Him, but also identify with His death.
So, whereas formally we were alive to sin and dead to Christ,
now the situation is reversed. Now, we are dead to sin and alive to
Christ. This is our present position.
To
understand this position is vital. The
importance of understanding this is emphasized by the little phrase in verse 3,
“don't you know”.
It is as
if Paul is saying, “Christian,
Don't you know who you
really are?
Don't you know that when
Christ died on the Cross, you died with Him? Don't you know that you died
to sin?
So, how can we
live in sin any longer? You see,
when we know who we are, then we have laid a foundation to build on.
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. 5 If we have been united with Him like this in His
death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. “(Romans
6:4-5)
We must
first understand our position, who we are in Christ, and then we
must understand our provision, what we have in Christ.
Our position
tells us who we are, and
Our provision
tells us what we have.
What we have centers
around what God provided for us through the death of Christ.
When Christ died on the Cross,
He bore
the sin of all people.
He paid
the penalty for our sin.
He also
broke the bondage of sin for every person who would follow Him.
His death
set us free from sin. The old person that we were was buried with Him
through baptism into death.
Our
Baptism here signifies our identification with Christ.
Our
Baptism is a symbol for His death, burial and resurrection.
Our
Baptism is our identification with Christ.
When we
were baptized, the old sinful person in us was put to death. And dead people
are released from the obligations of their former life.
But here's
the good news. We don't stay dead. Oh, we do stay dead to the former life of
sin, but we are resurrected again so that we too may live a new life.
His death symbolizes our death and His resurrection symbolizes our resurrection
to new life.
So, we not only see
that His death sets us free from sin, but we also see that His life makes us
alive to God.
As people,
dead to sin, we have been set free from our old way of life. As people, alive
to Christ, we have the opportunity to walk in a new dimension of freedom.
Now Paul states Our Practice
6”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— 7 because
anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 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.
Having
understood our position, who we are in Christ, and
Having understood our
provision, what we have in Christ, we can now turn to our
practice, how we live in Christ.
How you live is based on what you
believe.
What you believe makes all the
difference in how you live.
That makes sense,
doesn’t it?
How you live is based on what you
believe.
What you believe makes all the
difference in how you live.
The first
thing we must believe is that our old self was crucified with Christ, so
that the body of sin might be done away with.
That means…
Sin’s power over us is removed.
Sin’s dominion over us is rendered
powerless.
Sin’s domination over us has been
done away with.
Simply stated, we
are no longer slaves to sin, because anyone who has died to sin has been
freed from sin.
These are the things that we must
know.
These are the things that we must
understand.
These are the things that we must
believe.
1. We were crucified with Christ.
2. Sin's domination over us is removed.
3. We are no longer slaves to sin. And
4. We are freed from the power of sin over us.
Then we can take the
next step.
The next
step is essential. In verse 11, Paul
tells us to count yourselves dead to sin. Other translations say
“consider” yourselves to be dead to sin”.
That means
that as we apply this text to our lives, we must begin to see ourselves as
those who are dead to sin and alive to God. We must consider it to be true for
us. Then and only then can we act on it.
You see, What you
believe determines how you behave. And How you behave will be a direct
reflection of what you believe.
On the one hand, we must oppose
sin.
On the other, we must offer
ourselves to God.
And now, we have the
power to do both.
We now
live as those who have been brought from death to life. So we can offer
ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.
You have
been set free.
You have
been told that sin shall not be your master.
You are not under law, but
under grace.
Again,
what you believe will determine how you behave.
So…
It is vital for us to
understand the truth about ourselves from God's point of view.
It is vital for us
to understand the power of the death of Christ to set us free from the power of
sin.
It is vital for us
to see ourselves as those who are dead to sin and alive to God.
We must begin to live from this
perspective.
This is what dying to live means.
Now, the question is
this: Who are you going to believe?
Are you going to believe God or are you going to believe Satan?
Well, frankly, we
are tempted to believe Satan because of the problems we encounter with our own
mortal flesh. We are weak, and we do sin. And it's easy for Satan to say:
“Look, this business about you
being dead to sin is not true.
Look at the way you live your life.
Look at how you fail.
Look at how many times you mess us!
That’s what Satan tries to tell
you.
The
Devil comes along and tries to convince you that you don't have the spiritual
power to resist sin.
“Look at your past,” he
says.
“Look at your
history;
“Look at your
frailty.”
“Look at your
life!”
You're not dead to sin.
You're really alive to sin.
You haven't died at all.”
“You have failed God and you have
failed Him miserably.”
“You don’t have the power to
resist sin!” That’s what Satan tells
you.
At this point you
have two choices — to believe God or Satan.
Who will
you believe?
Will
you believe Satan
who tries to tell you that you are
a worthless sinner…
who tries to tell you that you are
a slave to sin…
who tries to tell you that you
have no control over what you do or say?
OR…
Will you believe God you has told
you that your old self was put to death when
Christ died on the cross for you.
Will you believe God Who tells you
that you have raised to a new life in Jesus
when He was raised to life?
Will you believe God Who tells you
that you live now in the freedom of the
Gospel rather than under the tyranny of the
Law?
When
we were lowered into the water of our Baptism, it is like the burial of Jesus!
When we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus If
we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his
life-saving resurrection. Never again will death have the last word over us.
When
Jesus died, He took sin down with Him,
When Jesus rose from the dead, He brings God down to us.
From
now on, think of it this way:
Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you;
God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word.
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct
your lives. Don't give sin the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that
old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time-- into God's way
of doing things.
Sin
can't tell you how to live any more. After all, you're not living under that old
tyranny any longer. You are living in the freedom of God.
Christianity has not failed.
Instead…
Many Christians do not understand
Christianity.
Many Christians who understand
Christianity have never really professed it.
Many Christians who profess
Christianity it have never really practiced it.
If we understand Christianity.
If we profess what we
understand.
If we practice what we profess,
Christianity will not fail.
Never forget that!
Amen.