Sunday, February 25, 2018

Freed

When you think about it, Paul spends a lot of time in his letters answering questions. Most of the time the question being dealt with isn’t stated. That’s what happened in Romans chapter five. Paul was dealing with the question, ‘What are some of the deeper dynamics of how the Gospel works?’ And he answered that question by talking about Adam and Jesus. There are, however, times when Paul will actually state the question that he is going to answer. We have an example of that at the beginning of Romans chapter six.

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Romans 6:1

Now, that question doesn’t come out of the blue. This question is actually related to something that he had just written back in chapter five.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more… Romans 5:20

Here, Paul is explaining that God added His law to the situation with the Adam group. He did this ‘to increase the trespass’, to make sin more obvious. God did this to make it easier for people to see their sin and thus to know that they need Jesus. But Paul then comforts any anxious readers. In effect, he tells them that even as sin, along with all of its problems, increased, God’s grace increased even more, it abounded, so that all of sin’s problems would be dealt with.

but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…

And that leads to his question.

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?


Or to translate, if grace is going to grow even as sin grows, shouldn’t we sin more? That way God’s grace is highlighted.

I’ll guess that you’ve never heard anyone say anything like that. But maybe you’ve heard something like this. ‘It doesn’t matter if I sin. Jesus will forgive me. After all, my sin will be covered by His grace.’ It’s this cavalier attitude about sin among Christians that Paul wants to deal with.

And his answer to his question is clear.

By no means! Romans 6:2

Or to put that into more modern language, ‘Are you crazy?!?’ Paul poses a question and then answers it in no uncertain terms.

Now, he could have moved on to the next topic. But he doesn’t. Instead, he explains why that kind of attitude about sin makes no sense for any Christian. He wants the saints to understand more of the Gospel.

Paul writes several things to explain his answer. So, to start, he writes,

How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:2

Okay, we Christians have died to sin. But what does that mean? Paul goes on to explain.

We know that our old self was crucified… Romans 6:6

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:7

All right. There has been this big change in us. We have died to sin and been set free from it. And what are the results? Paul explains that, too.

having been set free from sin, [we] have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:18

and

we … walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

Now, a question. And this is really quite important. Is Paul just speaking metaphorically when he talks about dying to sin and all the rest? Or should we take that dying to sin notion literally?

This is where I get to talk about my favorite American heretic, Charles Grandison Finney. He was a minister who lived in the 1800’s. And he had a curious understanding of conversion. It’s merely a change of mind.

Imagine someone who is a Browns fan. One day someone takes him aside and explains reality to him. As a result, our friend sees the light, turns away from the Browns and becomes a Steelers fan. He’s been converted. Now, what has changed? The man’s thinking has changed. He used to think that rooting for the Browns was the way to go. But he’s had a change of mind and now roots for the Steelers.

Finney saw conversion, becoming a Christian, similarly. It’s just a change of mind. The goal of evangelism is to change someone’s opinion about religion. Then, any new convert would be encouraged not to sin. But any talk of dying to sin or the old self being crucified and all the rest is just a figurative way to talk about being a Christian. You’ve had a change of mind. Now go and do your best to live in a way that is consistent with that change of mind. Finney died in 1875 but his notions about evangelism and conversion are still quite popular.

And, by the way, they are wrong. They are wrong and deadly.

Back to Paul. He wasn’t speaking figuratively when he wrote about our dying to sin. No, he was being quite literal. We really have died to sin.

What Paul is doing is describing the difference between being in the Adam group and being in the Jesus group. Let me remind you what Paul wrote about these two groups. First, the Adam group.

… sin came into the world through one man…  Romans 5.12

That’s Adam’s sin.

... many died through one man’s trespass… Romans 5.15

Adam’s sin resulted in not just his death but the death of many, including us.

… by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…  Romans 5.19

His sin not only resulted in our being cursed with death but also our being made into sinners, people who are given to sinning.

And then, the result of all of this.

Therefore, … one trespass led to condemnation for all men… Romans 5.18

So, what does it mean to be in the Adam group? Being cursed with death and condemnation as people who are given to sinning, and all of that quite literally.

Now, what does it mean to be a part of the Jesus group? Again, from chapter five.

… if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. Romans 5.15

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Romans 5.17

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Romans 5.18-19

We all started out in the Adam group. But things have changed. We are now Christians. We are now in the Jesus group. This results in tremendous change. Instead of being cursed with death and condemnation as people who are given to sinning, we now are blessed with life and justification as people who are given to righteous living.

And here is the key to this tremendous change. Though we used to be united with Adam and thus in his group, we have been united to Christ and thus in His group. Listen again to what Paul wrote.

For if we have been united with him [Paul’s talking about Jesus] in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Romans 6:8
      
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Romans 6:6

So, as I told you last time, we got into this sinful mess because our lives were united to Adam. And we have gotten out of it because our lives are now united to Jesus.

Unless, of course, all of this is just metaphor. If it’s just metaphor, some figurative language, then nothing about us has really changed. If it’s just figurative language, then we root for Jesus now instead of rooting for Satan. But it’s the same old us.

But it’s not figurative language. It’s not a mere metaphor. The death, condemnation and cursedness of being in the Adam group is no metaphor. Those things are real, so very real. And likewise, the life, acceptance and blessedness of being in the Jesus group is no metaphor. We have been changed. And that change is not just a matter of a change of opinion. Our souls which once were dead, really dead, have been touched by the Spirit. They are now alive, really alive.

So, this is Paul’s answer to that opening question. We Christians do not give ourselves to sin thinking that grace will abound, so our sinning doesn’t matter. That’s what people who are cursed with death do. We are no longer dead. We are no longer cursed. We are no longer united to Adam. We are alive, alive and blessed because we are united to Jesus. We now give ourselves to right living, holy living. We have been changed.

Now, I want to briefly touch on one other thing. If you ask a Christian when this tremendous change came about in his life, this being raised from death to life, what would most of them say? They’d talk about their conversion experience. But that’s not what Paul teaches.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Romans 6:1-3

Paul ties this huge, literal change to baptism. Now, remember that baptism doesn’t cause this change. But God is doing something through baptism so that this momentous change is somehow tied to it. More at another time.

Now, for the application question. So what? What difference does this make in how we live? Paul answers that question.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

Now, remember this is no metaphor. So, this considering yourself dead to sin isn’t a plea to act as if you were dead to sin, even though you’re not really. No, Paul just finished explaining that we really are dead to sin. Its power has been broken. It no longer controls us. We are actually alive, and because of that we are freed from the power of sin.

So, when Paul calls the saints to consider themselves in this new way, he is simply teaching the saints to believe that the change has actually occurred. He’s telling them to believe this part of the Gospel. Something big has changed. Believe it.

It is as we do that, it as we believe this part of the Gospel about being freed from the power of sin, that we can become holy people. Now, sadly, ‘holy’ has become another church word. So, let me translate it. We can now become whole people.

There is so much about us that is broken. Our lives are not working in the way that God intended when He created humanity. Sin has done its ugly work in us. And its effects remain. Think about how you respond to the hard parts of life. What was your last argument about? Or maybe you don’t have arguments but only because you don’t care enough. Then, there are the idols that we look to so that life will work. At a recent Bible study, I mentioned that there are holes in my life, good things that are missing. And how do I handle that? I eat. Instead of finding comfort in God I try to find it in food. That’s an effect of sin in me. There are other idols that people look to, things like success measured in terms of how much money or stuff you have or what your grades are. We can respond to life with pride, self-pity, anger, feeling depressed, laziness, being driven, anxiety and lots more. We are broken people.

But we are also Christian people. So, because we have been changed, deeply changed, because we are now in the Jesus group, we can be freed from all of this. We are dead to sin and alive to God. So, we can become whole people. The brokenness can be healed. And as a result, we can live in a way that fits with reality as God has actually made it. We can live well.

There is great benefit for us as we do this. However, there is also great benefit for others. Being a person who is becoming whole is one of your greatest evangelistic weapons. Remember, we live in a world filled with broken people. And while they may not be interested in what we have to say, they will not be able to deny how we live as our lives are being healed and becoming whole.

Our lives will declare the Gospel. As we do that, they will come.

So, what do you do now? I think that I will be returning to this next week to give a fuller answer to that question than I could right now. But in the meantime, here is something that you can do. You can pray. For one thing, you can express your gratitude to God that He has set you free from the power of sin. Just think about what life would be like if you were still enslaved by sin with its death and condemnation. Saying, ‘Thank You’, makes sense.

And it just might be that you need to pray that you would believe this part of the Gospel, that you really are dead to sin and alive to God, so that you will choose to live well instead of continuing in those old habits of sin. Casting out sin and becoming whole is a part of the Gospel to be believed.

We have been changed. We don’t sin that grace may abound because that doesn’t fit with the new us. We really have been changed. And we can live like it. We can work at becoming whole and holy people. And that is something to get excited about.

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