From Death to Life

They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can ever do, some say it’s the third most stressful after the death of a loved one and the loss of a job.

I have a feeling that paying your gas and electric bill may find itself pretty high on the list these days as well.

Moving is not fun…I can give testimony to that.

And I’m not just talking about the past few weeks.

In the course of my life I've now moved house 18 times...but the first one doesn't count because I was only a few months old.

That one wasn't very stressful for me at least.

But since then I’ve moved 17 times, including now three moves from America to the UK.

And now this coming week Sharon and David will make that move as well, and we’re all filled with excitement about what the future holds as we settle into a new life here.

Of course, with the upheaval the world has seen in recent years, there's a simple truth that moving isn't always by choice.

Sometimes the stress of the move is nothing compared to the reason for the move.

Job loss...relocation...separation and divorce...death of a spouse…

…sometimes moving is anything but exciting.

In fact, here's a little thought for you: next time you see a removal company van...say a little prayer for whoever’s moving, because chances are they are undergoing at least a little stress, if not a lot.

Now you may not realize it, but the New Testament text we just heard speaks about moving.

Not moving from house to house or city to city or job to job, no, Paul in our passage from Romans speaks of a much more significant and life-altering move.

Did you catch it? It was in verse 13:

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life

Brought from death to life...it's hard to imagine a more dramatic move than that.

Paul is making a rather dramatic claim here, a claim that is central to understanding what the Christian faith is truly about.

A Christian is someone who was dead...but is now alive.

In fact, it's part of the larger argument Paul is making throughout this entire section of Romans, starting in Chapter 5.

Paul points out that because of sin we all stand in judgment before God, and that sin brings death.

It's a bedrock truth of the Christian faith: apart from Christ we are dead in our sins.

That's powerful language.

[BUTLER DOOR TO DOOR EVANGELISM STORY]

Later in life I learned that asking that question was a very popular evangelism technique in the 1980s, but I don’t see the appeal.

Because so often we think about salvation in terms of our eternal destiny: how we respond to Christ will affect what happens when we die.

What we so often forget is that, yes how we respond to Jesus does affect what happens when we die...

...but the truth is, apart from Christ…we are dead already.

Without Jesus, death has a hold on us.

Paul actually says in Romans 5 that, apart from the saving work of Christ, death REIGNS.

Not r-a-i-n-s, but r-e-i-g-n-s. Death reigns.

Death is in charge when Jesus isn't in the picture.

In Martin Lloyd-Jones epic commentary on Romans, he makes this blunt statement about death's reign on planet Earth: "The world is a place of cemeteries."

Think about that for a moment. What a stark statement, and yet so true.

Death seems to have the upper hand in this world.

Much more so these past two years.

But the death that Paul is talking about here in Romans isn't just physical, scary as that can be, he's talking about spiritual death.

Paul says that when sin entered the world, it became our master.

And without the transforming work of the cross, we are slaves to sin.

Again, that’s really strong language.

Why?

BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE.

We need to be very careful in our Christian walk that we not treat sin too lightly.

And I'm not talking about other peoples' sin, sometimes Christians are great about talking about how serious other peoples' sin is.

But we have to deal with our own sin...our own selfish, messed-up, twisted, rebellious-against-God sin...somehow we often lose sight of its seriousness.

That's why it's good now and again to come back to Romans, where we encounter words like evil and death and slavery:

So we can be reminded of what it is Christ has rescued us from.

Because friends, that’s what the gospel of Jesus is: it’s a rescue story.

Think of a great adventure story you’ve read or seen where the hero comes and snatches someone from certain death at just the last minute.

Depending on what generation you are, you might have a different hero in mind:

Superman, Indiana Jones, Princess Leia, Captain Marvel…Captain Kirk…

…whoever comes to mind, sit with that image and reflect on what it represents.

Rescue.

And reflect on the truth that as followers of Jesus, we, too have been rescued.

But when we lose sight of that precious and glorious truth, we can easily fall back into old habits and temptations.

That's why Paul says:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Paul says we have not only moved from death to life…we’ve also moved from law to grace.

Eugene Peterson's Message paraphrase says at one point:

" We left the old country of sin behind...and we entered into the new country of grace."

In other words…we moved!

Not just across town, but to a different kingdom entirely.

[DAVID—DUAL CITIZENSHIP]

Dual citizenship may have its advantages in this world, but Paul says that dual citizenship is not an option for the Christian.

Once we declare our allegiance to Christ, we have died to our old way of life.

"Sin shall no longer be your master..." Paul says.

You answer to a different authority now.

So here is a crucial question for us this morning:

If what Paul says is true...

If we have moved from death to life, if sin is no longer our master, if we have been set free by Christ...

...why does sin still seem to have such a hold on us?

If we have undergone such a dramatic change as Paul describes, why are so many Christians still living lives trapped in sin's hold and power?

We can put on a good front, but for many of us it's as though we moved, but still keep an address in the old neighborhood.

How does that happen?

I think it happens because we fail to recognize our position in Christ.

We fail to see and understand all that has taken place when we moved from death to life by putting our faith in Jesus.

We say things like "my sins have been forgiven," and "I received eternal life," which are both true, but a lot more than that happens when we claim Christ as our Lord and Savior.

It's not just about having our sins forgiven, it's about having sin's hold on us destroyed.

Paul says, "You have been set free from sin."

It's not just about having your slate wiped clean, it's about having your chains broken and your fetters shattered by the sacrifice of Jesus.

That’s what this season approaching Holy Week reminds us.

We were once slaves to sin, but because of Christ we are set free.

Now this doesn't mean that we never sin again.

Sin's hold on us may be destroyed, but we still fall victim to temptation.

And when we do, there are all sorts of lies that can attack and assail us.

"See, you haven't really changed all that much."

"You're just as messed up as before."

"You're the same old sinner you always were."

Friends…that's a lie!

And if we believe it, we are denying the truth that Paul proclaims here in Romans.

We are denying that we ever moved from death to life.

Don't believe the lie!

In fact, let me encourage you to do more than that.

Not only should you not believe the lie, you should immerse yourself in the truth.

The truth that Paul teaches here when he says:

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

You used to be slaves to sin...or as Peterson puts it: all your lives you've let sin tell you what to do.

But now, Paul says, you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

That’s a truth worth sitting with and really exploring, especially this time of year.

We need to immerse ourselves in it, we need to soak in it, we need to dwell in it 'til it's part of who we are.

We have been set free from sin and are now slaves to righteousness.

[PAUSE]

One thing about me, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, is that I love space.

Not just in a science fiction sense, but in a very real world sense as well.

I can’t wait for the first clear night when I’m able to take my telescope up on the Law and gaze at the beauty of the stars. Maybe even catch a glimpse of the International Space Station.

You know, on December 23rd, 1968 a momentous event in space exploration took place.

The Apollo 8 spacecraft, 55 hours into their mission, reached a point known as the Earth/Moon neutral point.

It's the point at which the gravitational forces of the Earth equal the gravitational forces of the moon.

And when Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders passed that point, they became the first humans to travel beyond Earth's influence.

From that point on in their flight, they were captured by the gravity of the moon instead of Earth's.

I think a lot of Christians live much of their lives in a sort of spiritual neutral point.

We understand that when we come to faith in Christ, we move beyond a life of sin.

But we don't take that extra step to fully understand what it means to live as those captured by Christ. Slaves of righteousness.

And that neutral point can be a very precarious place, and if we're not careful, we can start to feel sin's gravitational pull, calling us back to a false understanding of who we are.

Paul says, " When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness."

Sin had us in its gravitational pull...but then Paul says:

" now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."

Paul makes a direct link between understanding that we are slaves of God, and living lives of holiness.

And that understanding begins at the foot of the cross.

Where we not only receive forgiveness, but we are actually crucified with Christ, and we count ourselves dead to sin.

That should be our cry every day...to know more and more what that means.

Every day we need to be reminded who we are, whose we are, and where we live in Christ.

And again..that journey begins at the foot of the cross.

As we come closer and closer to Holy Week and chance to meditate on the cross of Christ, may the glorious truth of what he’s done, and who we are as a rescued, transformed people fill us more and more.

Amen.