FREEDOM: How can we avoid negative cycles?
(ASD 8 and 10am – 17th Aug. Romans – a letter that makes sense of life by Andrew Ollerton- pgs. 103-124)
Almighty God, may my spoken words, be faithful to your written word, and lead us the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord and King. Amen
So far Paul has led down into the valley of sin, then guided us through the crux of salvation, before brining us to a beautiful viewpoint, where we’ve paused to take in the love of God as both a historic, factual event and a profound, personal experience.
Our salvation is completely secured in Christ, and nothing can separate us from God’s love. It is not based on my moral performance, on how much good I can do, but on Christ’s righteousness. Even my sin, past, present and future cannot disrupt the peace treaty that has been signed in his blood.
When we put it like that, it sounds too good to be true, don’t you think?
New thoughts may begin to surface… if, according to Romans 1-5 salvation is sorted regardless of my sin, does it really matter if I go on sinning?
Well similar thoughts must have flashed through Paul’s mind - chapter 6 begins: ‘what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?’
Having teed up the provocative question, Paul gives an emphatic response – ‘by no means – certainly not!’
The start of Romans 6 Paul highlights the fact that a Christian has been baptised or immersed into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
When Paul refers to ‘baptism’ he has in mind the initiatory drama that accompanied conversion to Christianity in the first century. A baptism candidate would stand in the water, then symbolically, their old lives were fully immersed, dunked, plunged under the surface of the river/sea. Seconds later, they would burst back up, out of the watery grave as a picture of resurrection – new life. Finally, the candidate would put on a white robe signifying their righteous standing before God. Water baptism therefore enacts the spiritual union of a believer with Christ. As Paul puts it, we have been united with him. We are in Christ, therefore what happened to him, death, burial and resurrection is now true of us.
And so, with this in mind, Paul declares ‘our old self was crucified with Christ’.
Now it seems that many Christians either don’t know this, or they don’t own it for themselves.
In our creeds we often affirm that Christ was crucified for us, but what about the reversible truth - we were crucified with Christ. If the former truth guarantees our forgiveness, the latter is key to our freedom? When Christ died for my sin, my old self died with him. When he was buried, I was buried. When he was resurrected, I was raised to new life.
My identity, your identity, has been fundamentally altered through our union with Christ. I am no longer a sinner, enslaved to evil forces more powerful than me. I belong to God. As Paul concludes in verse 7, ‘anyone who has died has been set free from sin.’
The sooner we realise this, and accept this, we can live in the good of it. When sin captivates us, entices us, draws us in, pulls us down, we need to say:
I have been crucified with Christ. I don’t have to do this. It is not me anymore. I am free to live a new life.
Knowing who we are is a game-changer – it’s not mere make-believe, or positive, mindful thinking… rather it is us catching up with what is already true.
The Message translation puts it this way:
Our old way of life is nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life –
no longer captive to sin’s demands.
Continuing in chapter 6, verses 11-14, Paul gives us three key principles:
- Verse 11 says – ‘count yourselves dead to sin’.
Here Paul draws on an accounting term… ‘count’ or ‘reckon’ – That regardless of how we feel, we need to get our account in order, put the sums in the right column, do the maths, and see we are dead to sin and alive to God. It’s as if Paul is sitting us down and saying take a good look at what is now yours in Christ. Let it inspire you to live a new life. Christ’s victory over sin is ours!
With our new status clear – Paul moves into command mode: verse 13 – ‘do not offer any part of yourself to sin’. Paul understands that our bodies (soma) were created good, but they have become corrupted by our sinful nature (sarx). Our physical bodies do not yet share in Christ’s risen life. While spiritually we are united with Christ and freed from sin, physically, mentally, and emotionally we are still prone to temptation, lies and disordered desires.
At the risk of sounding simplistic, our software has been upgraded, but our hardware is still the same old kit – still prone to malfunction.
One day, our bodies will be restored, renewed, redeemed beyond any possibility of sin, but in the meantime, we should not be surprised that sinful thoughts and desires still tempt us. The struggles we experience are because in Christ we are new creations, and yet we still inhabit this old creation.
And so, for this reason, Paul tells people to fight against evil desires. He refers to our body as an instrument and urges us not to offer any part to sin. It’s a great analogy, our bodies can make melody for God, or they can be played out of tune by sin.
For example, we can use our tongues to tell crude jokes, lie about achievements or gossip about others, or we can control our tongue, to speak words of kindness and encouragement and truth.
Equally, we have a God-given sex drive and attraction towards others. We can allow sin to co-opt such desires so our bodies become instruments of lust, envy and shame, or we can refuse to act on impure thoughts.
This may mean having to put some distance between us and sin – so we don’t just wander back to our old, automatic pilot paths.
We can put software on our computer to stop us viewing unhelpful sites, we can make ourselves accountable to two or three others, turn down that extra beer, refuse to work late with someone we find attractive. Whatever it takes, even if we have to cut ties, we can take steps that stop us falling into sin or running into danger.
And, so finally, Paul urges us to positively pursue life as God’s servants. Verse 13 says: ‘offer yourselves to God’. But what does this look like – well we all have gifts, talents, wallets, tongues, abilities and time, which can all be put into action to serve God, His church, our community, one another.
This is how we recover from the dehumanising effects of sin and become the people we were made to be.
St Augustine said God is our Master, and when we serve Him, we find true freedom. By submitting to God's will and serving Him, you and me, we’re freed from the bondage of sin and the restless pursuit of worldly desires, finding true rest and fulfilment in Him.
This is a great paradox. Many people think that serving God will mean a loss of freedom, but actually the opposite is true. Living for ourselves is slavery – serving God, in the new way of the Spirit, is true freedom.
And so here we have the pathway of freedom – in Andrew Ollerton’s mountain climbing mind, this pathway is like a narrow ridge. It is tough, it requires giving up wrong attitudes, bad habits and hidden sins – but the freedom we can experience in Christ is so worth it.
We may slip and fall along the way, but let’s not give in to condemnation, rather embrace this teaching from Romans 6 – know it – count yourself as dead to sin, and live it – offer yourself to God wholeheartedly.
And so, as we come into land, I want us to take a moment to reflect on what it might mean personally to own these liberating truths – and to put them in practice.
The Message translation phrases verses 11-14 this way:
You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that relate to that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.
Maybe you need to remind yourself of the truth of who you are in Christ… you are a child of God, loved, and heir with Christ, I could go on…
You may like to take one of these and use it each day to affirm your identity in Christ. Maybe use it each morning as you read Scripture and start your day.
Or maybe you’ve become aware of areas in your life where you need to make changes, perhaps sin which is pulling you down, temptation that is ensnarling you, things where you need to step back, or away, repent, and find help and support.
If this is so, remember you don’t walk alone and there is hope – please do speak to me, or a good, trusted friend with whom you can be honest, to encourage support and offer accountability.
Or maybe you know you’ve got an addiction, and you need specific help – if that is the case, please speak to Buffy, Peter or me and we can signpost you to places where you’ll receive support, whether through Christian counselling or recovery programme.
So, let’s be still – let’s be honest with God -and ask for his mercy and help.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for the wonderful and powerful truth of your gospel.
Thank you that freedom from sinful patterns of behaviour is possible and that we no longer have to live under the weight of sin.
Where we need to find freedom, please set us free. Holy Spirit, please come and live in our hearts and empower us to live free, for your glory.
May your truth truly set us free!
Amen