Romans 6 – Brandon Hatmaker “The Summary”
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” – Romans 6:8-10
This sums it all up. While God’s ways are amazingly above and beyond our ways. When it comes to the application of His Word to our lives, you can’t make it any more simple than this. So much so that it even makes sense. “If” we died with Christ, we will live with him. In the same way Jesus died to sin and the life he lives, he lives to God.
We once offered our body to sin, it was easy and natural, Paul, urges us to offer ourselves to God, in the same way. It’s more natural than we think even in method, we know how to offer ourselves it’s of the will that we struggle. He reminds us of our nature in verse 19, “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.”
We claim ignorance as believers a lot. Funny thing is how appropriate that plea truly is. We are pretty ignorant. However, if we were to capture that moment and think about it, we’d realize that we know more than we think we know:
Every situation, every scenario, and every decision in life… what do we do?
“In the same way Jesus died to sin and the life he lives, he lives to God.”
As we’re choosing our career paths and our priorities in life…
“In the same way Jesus died to sin and the life he lives, he lives to God.”
As we think about how we spend our time or how we treat one another…
“In the same way Jesus died to sin and the life he lives, he lives to God.”
Father, teach me to submit my will to yours. In moments of pride when I feel I’m already doing it, please show me each facet in which I am not. Teach me to surrender not only the physical but also the emotional and mental that I might follow you with all my heart, with all of my mind, and with all my strength. Amen
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"Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ..."
ReplyDeleteThe cross is a place I return to often. And every once in a while I take a good, long look at my old self hanging there.
I see all the scars, tattoos and stripes from my old life. Time, forgiveness and redemption have brought a new perspective to it all. The way I used to live, the things I worshipped, valued and chased after...it's almost unbelievable.
There's so much power in returning to that cross where our old tattered shells still flutter in the wind. It lifts Christ's work up, reminds us of who we are without him, and allows us tp experience, with a deep and holy gratitude, God's amazing grace and love.
It sounds so easy, you sin you die. There has to be more to it right? Not really. I think I can sum it up. The death might be a physical who really knows. I think the death is a spiritual one. We were in the car today and I was explaining to our oldest daughter that when a person does drugs or drinks they are actually keeping oxygen from getting to the brain cells. When our brain cells don't get oxygen, they die. I think that is how sin effects us. When we are seperated from God, sin, we die. We get a little bit farther and farther from God. We get less and less of what we really and truly need, GOD.
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