THURSDAY 2nd
Romans 6
WANTED – Dead and Alive!
No, the title is not a mistake, I know the old Western posters used to say, ‘Wanted dead or alive’ but for our devotion it is ‘Wanted Dead and Alive’!
Why? Because it is the perfect description as to how we should be as Christians. Dead to sin and Alive to Christ.
Roman 6 is a well-known chapter, often used at a water baptismal service, in the ESV that I use the heading says at the commencement of the chapter ‘Dead to sin, Alive to God,’ and that is what baptism is all about, it is signifying that we have died to sin, the old flesh, nature and have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus. It is a symbolic act of what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’
Here in Romans 6 verse 4 we have, ‘We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’
These verses along with many other Scriptures clearly show that if we have been born again by the Spirit of God a definite change should have happened in our lives as believers. We should be transformed, we should be living differently, we should be to use an old-fashioned word ‘holy’ or at least holier than what we were and striving to become even more holy, Christlike. In other words, my lifestyle should be different to what I was and to the lifestyle of an unbeliever.
In Romans 6 Paul shows us how different we should be, our old self should be crucified, dead, and as a result the body of sin should be brought to nothing and we should no longer be enslaved to sin, we should have been set free from it. This then leads to us being united to Christ, alive in Christ and sharing in his resurrection.
I mentioned that the word ‘holy’ has almost become an old fashioned word, in that often today there seems to be a ‘light Christianity’ being preached, it’s almost like just lift your hand up or sign a card and you are saved. Rather than a presentation of the full gospel which requires the unbeliever to be moved by conviction, which in turn leads to genuine repentance and then on to a genuine transformation, where the old truly is gone and the new has come, repentance and salvation that really does mean that an individual is dead to sin and alive to Christ.
God does require us to be both dead and alive, God does expect us to live differently as his children who are walking in his Kingdom than what we did when we walked in the kingdom of darkness. Paul puts it in another way in his letter to the church at Galatia, (Galatians 5) he talks to them about either walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. We cannot walk in both ways, we cannot try to pick and mix, we must walk in the one way or the other.
We are living in difficult days, and days where there is so much peer pressure especially within the younger generation. There is so much to distract the believer today, we are living in a pleasure and leisure filled and seeking age, and there is nothing wrong with either unless there are activities or things within them that would distract us in our Christian walk, or would be a means towards diverting us in our Christian walk.
The teaching of Scripture is that we should be seeking to walk and to live in a way that is pleasing to God, and this should be more important to us than our seeking after pleasure, especially pleasure that is questionable.
May God help us to respond to the heading I started with, by being willing to be found, not wanting, but dead to sin and alive to Christ.
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.
Moment by moment I’m kept in his love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.
Never a trial that he is not there,
Never a burden that he doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that he doth not share,
Moment by moment, I’m under his care.
Never a heartache, and never a groan,
Never a teardrop, and never a moan;
Never a danger but there on the throne,
Moment by moment he thinks of his own.
Never a weakness that he doth not feel,
Never a sickness that he cannot heal;
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus my Saviour abides with me still.
D Whittle CCLI788682