Unity - Rom. 6

Intro

Do you guys know how tiktok has different communities of people.

Like book lovers have book tiktok

and vegans have vegan tiktok

and anime has anime tiktok

and within those communities there are sub communities. Tiktok places people into these communities because people identify with the content that is being shared by the influencers that use the hashtag book or hashtag vegan.

Tiktok knows that you will identify with that kind of content so it provides more of that content for you as you like more of those video from that community.

And before you know it you find your tiktok content is all about working out, or cars, or Lord of the Rings, because you have given APPROVAL to certain content and have skipped past other content.

As believers tonight we are going to talk about Unity in Christ.

There are many things that make us unique and special but there is one thing that unites all of us AS BELIEVERS and that is we all called Jesus Christ our Lord and savior.

We all approve that we have chosen to obey Jesus Christ as our Lord.

THEME:

Unity with Christ is the source of believers commmunion with God and other believers

PRAY

Romans 6:1–11 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul in Romans 6 is finishing his thoughts on sin and human depravity.

He has just spent the last few chapters talking about the fact that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Every one of us deserves to die because of our sins.

“For the wages of sin is death” - Rom. 6:23

But then Paul also explains that Jesus came to bring us life by paying the price of our sins on the cross.

“but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” - Rom. 6:23.

Paul then begins to address those that might say, “oh Jesus has already forgiven me therefore I can sin because Jesus has forgiven all my sins”

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

In other words

Should we keep sinning just because God’s grace is already covering us?

Paul is asking this rhetorically and in fact kind of making a joke of this idea.

In verse to he says NEVER!!!

And then Paul uses the idea of death to drive his point home.

“How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

If you die then you are no longer alive.

(I know that sounds like the biggest no duh idea of all time)

But Paul here is saying that you have put to DEATH your old nature, the nature that loved sin, the nature that loved the world.

The nature that loved people’s praise.

The nature that loved lust

The nature that loved gossip, or power, or boasting.

The nature that hated your parents and thought they were dumb

You put to death the nature that hated God.

So how can you still live in that nature?

It’s impossible!

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

He is telling us that all of the sin and death that come with the old nature have been buried with Christ.

Christ took that to the grave!

And when we as believers claim with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord then the sin that has latched itself onto our souls is buried in the dirt.

This is why we at the Fellowship baptize people and we tell them you have been buried with Christ, and raised to newness in life.

This old nature has literally been destroyed and now you have been given a new nature.

Have you ever heard stories of someone who almost died and they say that it gave them a new perspective on life, or it caused them to change who they were or how they lived?

One of the most famous examples of this idea is Ebenezer Scrooge in a Christmas Carol

He goes from being a literal scrooge to changing His entire way of life after he has this crazy experience.

Paul is telling us here in Romans 6 that we haven’t just had a near death experience but we have in fact died with Christ and the person that you are now is a completely new creation.

You have been bothed saved from sin and now have a different choice that you can make, you can choose to live righteously in relationship with God.

Romans 6:5–6 ESV

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

This is what Paul is talking about here in 5 and 6.

This old nature that has no choice but to sin it has been crucified and put to death.

Before you knew Christ you only ever did what was evil, you only ever sought to please yourself, you had no other choice because your soul was a slave to every sin and evil thing.

But now!

God has set you free and given you the ability to say NO!!! I chose to follow Christ, I chose to find life and my identity in God.

Romans 6:7–11 ESV

7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

It’s not that when you become a Christian you have to say yes to a list of chores in order to be a good person.

It’s that for the first time ever you realize that there is a different way to live. A way that brings life and joy, peace and comfort. A way to live in UNITY with God!

We get to have the option to live in relationship with a loving God now as believers.

Sin, any sin is leading to death!

Why would you be rescued from death and willing chose to go back to it?

Jesus went through the process of dying so that we could have a way to live in UNITY with God, no longer slaves to sin and death but having the ability to say no and to live a life that is pleasing to God.

True relationship with God, (how we were designed) is complete and total obedience to God.

Now I want to point out that just because our old nature has been put to death, we obviously all still deal with sin on a constant basis.

We will only ever escape sin fully when Jesus Christ returns and makes all things new.

However, Paul’s whole point here is that before you knew Christ you had no choice but to sin, now that you call Christ your Lord, He has given you a choice to live in harmony and righteousness or to choose to continue going back to sin and death.

And Paul would encourage us to never return to slavery in sin.

Romans 6:12–14 ESV

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

As a believer in Christ Jesus sin has no claim on you.

You are unified with God through His Spirit!

It’s like we were all living in this swamp of stagnant dirty disgusting water