Master Sin

"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—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. " (Romans 6:6-7)

Romans 6 is like a "big ideas" parade, and it's too easy to just watch them march on by without really getting it. Don't do that! Jump up on the parade floats and experience them. Take a little time to really understand this.

First: What is your "old self" that was crucified with Christ (if you're a Christian)? It is not your "sin nature" or your "want" to sin. We've still go that, right?. Your old self is the BC version of you — "before Christ." Sin owned that version of you. You had to do whatever it said. You were powerless.

To escape sin's slavery, that old self had to die with Jesus when you believed in Him for the forgiveness of your sin. Death is the legal termination of a slave owner's contract. At that moment, sin became the powerless one. Its authority was "done away with." You are free. You never have to sin again.

So why do we still sin? Stay tuned.

Think: Do you ever think of unbelievers as slaves to sin? How is a slave different from someone who volunteers to do the same thing?

Pray: Thank God for freeing you from slavery to sin by allowing your old self to be crucified with Jesus.

Do: Spend another couple of minutes on this big idea float by carefully reading Romans 5:6-8 again.

Dead, Then Not

"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. " (Romans 6:5)

Yesterday, we talked about getting dead as a path to a brand new life. By placing all of our hope in Jesus' death for our salvation — by accepting that our whole life is His, is "Christ-ian" — we were spiritually duct taped to Him in His death.

The Good News is that duct tape — or spiritual superglue or [fill in analogy for unbreakable bond here] — holds and carries us right through the death and the burial to the resurrection. Do you get what that means? As a Christian, your spirit cannot, will not, die again (even when your body croaks). You are alive, just as Jesus was alive when He walked out of His tomb. Death can't hurt you.

More: When you do croak, buy the farm, kick the bucket, take your last desperate gasp of air on this fallen planet, your body will be resurrected and made brand new and eternal and perfect, just like Jesus' is. Because of Jesus. Through faith in Jesus. You are united with Him forever. Right now — and then — you are absolutely free from the power of sin and the threat of death.

So why do we still sin? More tomorrow.

Think: Do you usually think of yourself as being "united with Christ"? How should that change the way we think about ourselves?

Pray: Think about what resurrection is worth to you, then think about what you paid for it. Thank God for the gift of eternal life.

Do: Read about how your present and future resurrection should change your life today in Colossians 3:1-4.

Dying to be Free

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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." (Romans 6:3-4)

Have you ever thought about faking your own death? It's become a standard plot device in movie and TV shows (including a recent hit superhero flick). When a character has messed up his life beyond repair — or when someone wants him dead — he fakes dying so he can either escape to a new and better life or go undercover and fix a problem in his old one.

In today's passage, Paul reminds Christians we've already pulled off the "die to get free" trick. Except we didn't fake it; we really did die spiritually. Like everyone else, we'd trashed our old lives with our sinful choices. The clock was ticking down to the moment Eternal Death would do us in for good. Jesus gave us another way out — through another kind of death.

By placing all of our trust in Him, Paul says we became so close to Him that we were marked with His death in our place on the cross; we were buried with Him (the picture of baptism); and we were spiritually resurrected to live a brand new life. Now Forever Death can't get us; sin has lost its power over us; and we've started over far away with every debt wiped out.

Think: Have you ever thought about becoming a Christian as "dying to get free"? What changes do you think someone would have to make if he faked his own death and started over brand new? What changes make sense for a Christian after "dying with Christ" and beginning a new life with Him?

Pray: Ask God to keep reminding you that you're living a new life, not an old one where you have to do what sin says.

Do: Jot down a few reasons a character in a TV show, book, or move would fake his own death.

Sin for God's Glory?

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2)

We join this letter immediately after the writer — Paul — has made an earth-shattering statement: "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more." Astounding! God's grace is so enormous, so elastic, that it wraps all the way around our sin like an unbreakable balloon. The more we sin, the bigger God's grace gets to cover our sin (through faith in Jesus' death in our place on the cross).

You can never, ever sin so much God's grace isn't big enough to cover your sin. What a great God! The more we sin, the more impressive His forgiveness looks. So let's make Him look really impressive by collecting sins like they were MySpace friends, right?

Paul answers that. Depending on your translation, he says: "No!" "By no means!" "God forbid." "May it never be!" "Certainly not!" Why? Because God's impressive grace doesn't stop at covering your giant pile of sin; it also flipped off the shock collar that kept you from breaking free of sin in the first place. (More on that idea tomorrow.)

Think: Is it a weird idea that God's grace is limitless -- that we can never out-sin His ability to forgive? Or is it so normal an idea that we take it for granted?

Pray: Thank God for His impossibly impressive grace and forgiveness for your sin (if you've trusted in Jesus' death in your place on the cross).

Do: To get a clearer picture, read Romans 5.

Hurting Together

"But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." (1 Corinthians 12:24-26)

Yesterday, we talked about unplanned finger-ectomies. Dead fingers. Missing digits. But what about if you just cut your finger most of the way off. Honestly, that would hurt for way longer than just cutting it all of the way off. Percentage-wise, your fingers aren't that big a part of your body. But when your fingers are in agony, your whole body is paying attention.

Paul said the church should be like that. None of the spiritual gifts makes that person more important than the rest of the people. Every believer is equal and connected. We should hurt just as deeply for the wounded person who sits next to us in the back row with the gift of helps as we do for the wounded pastor on the platform with the gift of teaching. And we should celebrate just as sincerely when the encouragement-gifted lady has a triumph as when the evangelist-gifted guy does.

Why doesn't it always work that way? Because humans like to rank people by importance, intelligence, popularity, and financial status. It's completely normal, and it's dead wrong in the church. The body can't heal if it just pretends like the broken leg is fine and dandy. The church can't thrive if we pick and choose who we'll hurt and hooray with.

Think: How often do you hurt for hurting people in your church? How often do their successes make you happy?

Pray: Ask God to help you to have the right amount of concern for all the people in your church.

Do: Remember a moment when one small part of you was in pain and that's all you could think about even though the rest of you was fine.

Dead Fingers

"The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment." (1 Corinthians 12:21-24)

Know anybody missing a few digits? It can happen fast, especially around big farm or construction equipment. One minute, you've got ten fingers. Then — chomp — you're down to eight. Here's the deal: The person who loses a few fingers can survive and adapt; they do okay. The finger, on the other hand, isn't so lucky. It's done. The rule of thumb is that a finger without a body is just dead skin and bones.

Paul said the same applies to Christians. We're built to work together. Some of us are fingers. Some of us are elbows. Some of us are livers. But none of us can say we don't need the rest of the body. We need each other to survive. If you've been ditching the rest of the body (meaning not hanging with other Christians), you're going to start to shrivel up spiritually.

Here's the other deal: Some of the glamor parts are expendable (fingers, arms, legs, eyes, etc.), but most of the "hidden" parts are essential (livers, hearts, rectums). The body really, really needs the "non-public" parts, or we're toast. If your spiritual gifts are behind-the-scenes instead of up front, thank God that you are so important to the body.

Think: Do you ever wonder if you really need to go to church or spend time with other believers? What are the consequences for you of trying to live for God on your own? What are the consequences for the body when you make that choice?

Pray: Ask God to help you understand your part in the body of Christ and to be glad for the part He made you.

Do: Cut off one of your fingers and watch to see how long it lives on its own. [Lawyer's note: This is an imagination exercise; PW will not be held responsible for any loss of actual fingers. Thank you.]

CDL 007

"If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." (1 Corinthians 12:17-20)

Do you look at license plates? I've always wanted a cool plate on my car. Not a "vanity" plate I had to pay extra for, just a cool set of the regular numbers and letters that stands out from the crowd a little. Maybe something that makes a cool acronym or ends in 007. It never works out that way.

God is not the Department of Motor Vehicles. When you go to the DMV to get plates for your car, an often bored looking lady behind the counter reaches for the closest stack and hands you whatever is on top of the pile. Your vehicular ID is assigned at random and without any thought about how it fits you or your world.

That's fine for license plates, but people sometimes accuse God of working that way in our world. He doesn't. If you read the middle of today's passage, you'll see that He hands out spiritual gifts by design to specific people in specific situations to meet specific needs. Or as Paul put it, He arranged the parts of the body of Christ according to His plan. There are no accidental feet or happenstance ears. Your part in the body is your part for a reason. For His reason.

Think: Are you convinced that God made you as you are — including your spiritual gifts — for a good reason? Why is it hard for us to believe that sometimes?

Pray: Thank God for arranging your part in the body of Christ just as He wanted you to be.

Do: Look for some cool license plates this week.