New Life inChrist
Buried in Baptism, Raised to new life
When a man decides to exercise his freedom to break God’s laws, he is like a person who ascends to the top of a tall building and jumps off. For the first several stories he feels great. There are no restraints, no restrictions, no hang-ups. But suppose, ten stories from the ground, he realizes that a sudden stop awaits him and that he doesn’t want to endure its consequences. Can he reverse the falling process? Can you or he stop the fall? Of course not. Thus, in the final ten stories, our tragic character will examine his definition of freedom and realize—too late—that it was wrong.
the body of sin might be brought to nothing
History records instances where slaves who were set free continued to live as if they were slaves. Either they could not believe they were free, or they were so conditioned to slavery that they could not imagine freedom. Likewise, until we accept our emancipation through Christ, we will remain slaves. But once we have accepted God’s gracious gift of emancipation, we will be able to participate fully in a new life of obedience. As slaves to sin, we are set free by Christ before we can begin to live free.
The old life has been exchanged for the new life; old habits and patterns must also be exchanged for new habits and patterns.
NEW LIFE
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, his followers need never fear death. Allowing this truth to permeate our being will change the way we live. We know that we will live with Christ in eternity, but we also live with him today. That assurance frees us to enjoy fellowship with him and to do his will. This will affect all our activities—work and worship, play, Bible study, quiet times, and times of caring for others. When we know that we don’t have to fear death, we experience a new vigor in life.
How much of the power needed to live the Christian life do you attempt to provide? Even when you get creative and give it your best shot, failure is inevitable.
In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push.
After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave his car running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.
Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, “Why Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life.
For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting the power to work.
J.B. Phillips paraphrases Ephes. 1:19–20, “How tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God.” When we make firm our connection with God, His life and power flow through us.97
A minister was seeking to explain the significance of baptism to a new convert. He was gesturing as he talked and noticed that as he was using his hand its shadow fell on the ground. So he said to the convert, “Do you see the shadow of my hand on the sand? Now this is just a shadow. The hand is the real thing. And when you came to Jesus, when you believed in Jesus, that was the real baptism. You were joined to him, and what happened to him also happened to you. Jesus was alive, then he died and was buried, and then he rose from the dead. That is what happened to you when you believed in him.” He pointed to the shadow on the sand and said, “When you go down in the water and are raised up again, that is a picture of what has already happened.” Water baptism is a picture, a symbol to teach us what happened to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus.