Live For Christ Not For Sin

Read Romans 6:1-14
Theme: Salvation available to all by faith.
Title in NIV: Be dead to sin and alive to Christ.

I like the title in my bible. But in the first verse it sounds like the people want to be alive to sin and alive to Christ as well. They know what Christ has done for them-forgiven them. So, they believe they should be able to do what ever they want because, as they have been told, Jesus will forgive them. I'm sure they don't want to change their gossip, they don't want to change their unforgivness toward someone, they don't want to be nice to their husbands, they want to continue to be selfish and live a selfish lifestyle. They feel like they have the right to do some of these behaviors because they have been wronged (They don't have that 'right', by the way.)  They don't want to admit they are wrong or hurtful and don't want to change what they have always done.  But, that is not the concept Jesus teaches. 

Paul is trying to get this concept across to them: if you are baptized into Christ you should live a new life. Paul is telling them that if they share in Christ they should daily try to rid themselves of the things they did in the old self, without Christ. How do we do that? Ask God to show you what he wants you to rid from your life. Those things hinder you from bearing fruit. It is easy to ask God, but it is hard to rid ourselves of those things. They are comfortable, they are what we have always done or never done. We say that that is just our personality and that is 'the way I am'. That is an attitude that says, "I will not change, I don't want to change, I am comfortable in this flesh." God warns that is a scary attitude in many places in the bible (Pr 8:13, 16:18).  Also, we can ask God to show us our talent. Again, asking is the easy part, using our talent is the hard part. (Challenge: why is using our talent hard? Do others know what your talent is and use us when they need our talent?)

Verse 9 explains that Christ was raised from the dead into the spiritual body, not another fleshly body. He cannot die again. Death has no mastery over him. Mastery means rule over, control over something. So, death does not rule over Christ or have control over him. We can share in that too!!!! When we live to Christ, sin has no mastery over us either. In other words, sin does not rule in our life, sin does not control us. Our fleshly nature will sin, but it does not condemn us because we are covered with the blood of Christ.

All our sin (yours and mine) is heaped on him once and for all and nailed to the cross so it can't be applied to us. In the same way, we should be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. Just as Christ did not allow sin to reign in his life, we should not allow sin to reign in our life. We should not be instruments for wickedness, but instruments for righteousness.  As an instrument cannot play itself, sin cannot act alone. Someone has to play the instrument just like someone has to commit the sin. You know if you are playing an instrument (how could you not) just like you know if you are sinning (in most cases). So, be an instrument of righteousness. Play for the King of Kings and not for the Father of Lies.