Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His.6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.10 The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:1-11 NEW LIFE
Springford Baptist Church. Baptism: June 12, 2022.
A young boy was praying before going to bed. He’d had a really rough time getting along with his sister that day. His prayer: “God, please have my sister go live in a new house by herself.”
It’s hard to live a new life in an old world, but is it possible?
YES, BECAUSE OF JESUS !
Baptism is a picture for us of how this is possible.
God’s Word, the Bible, in those verses from Romans 6, makes this clear.
vs. 2 “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer”?
Knowing that God’s gift of grace can forgive every wrong thing that we have ever done, some might say, “We can just keep on sinning (doing the wrong things) because God will forgive us.” It doesn’t work this way!
It’s hard to live a new life in an old world, but is it possible?
YES, BECAUSE OF JESUS !
Not only is it possible, it is what we will want to do-live a new life when we have given our lives to Jesus. We will want to please Him!
vs. 4 “We were therefore buried with Jesus through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
No matter how long any of us here has belonged to Jesus through faith in His power to save us from our sins. No matter how long since we were baptized, we still struggle with living a new life – a life that will please Jesus.
But this new life is not optional, it is essential!
It should be possible for people around us-our families, friends,neighbours, people at school, people at work, people at baseball, dance, swimming, people at the mall to see evidence that we belong to Jesus, that we’re living a new life.
When doing our classes to prepare for baptism, we spent time talking about what living a new life would look like and be like.
A new life means:
-not lying
-not saying things that hurt people’s feelings
-not being selfish (thinking only of ourselves)
It is more than just what we look for God’s help not to do!
A new life has to also mean what we do:
-caring about other people like Jesus did
-helping others (not just when convenient, going out of our way)
-loving others (including those who aren’t popular or might even annoy us)
-forgiving and asking to be forgiven
It’s hard to live a new life in an old world, but is it possible?
YES, BECAUSE OF JESUS !
Romans 6:6 reminds us that the old sinful self has died and we have been set free. We have the power through Jesus to confront and defeat sin!
II Cor. 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!”
Col. 3:1 “ Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
Now we’re going to consider someone in the Bible who showed evidence of new life because of Jesus.
Remember Zacchaeus (Luke 19) He was short (vertically challenged).
But the fact that Zacchaeus was small and had to climb a tree in order to see Jesus is not the most significant thing about him.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector and the tax collectors of that time were known for taking more than their share, for cheating.
When Zacchaeus met Jesus, his life was changed and he wanted to do things differently!
He said that right then and there, he was giving half of his possessions to the poor and that he would pay back 4 times as much to anyone he had cheated.
This is new life. This is the determination to please Jesus when we give our lives to Him!
New life is life changing!
When people are baptized today, we will pray for God’s Spirit at work in them, helping them to live a new life for Jesus and because of Jesus.
What will continuing to live a new life mean for each of us?
It’s all about choices:
God measures our new life by our attitude toward Him.
When we follow God’s wisdom, our actions will be good ones.
God’s wisdom will help us choose right not wrong.
No matter how smart or how rich we might become, we will always need God’s wisdom.
God’s rules show us the best way to live.
Following God’s way is a matter of love, not just obedience.
Our choice of words can help or hurt others.
We can choose to express anger in constructive ways.
We can choose helpful ways to deal with conflict.
We can choose to show compassion by forgiving others, as God has forgiven us.
All these true words about living a new life in Jesus will only be words unless we make them part of the way we think, speak and act.
Not only will evidence of this new life be apparent to those around us but we can look for evidence of new life in the way we pray:
What do you pray about?
If most of our prayers are focused on ourselves and are grocery lists of all our needs then where is the new life?
When we are living the new life, our prayers will wrap themselves around the needs and situations of others and we will pray with compassion and conviction. We will pray expecting answers! We will pray looking for God to overcome sin in our lives and in the lives of other believers. We will pray for those who have not yet given their lives to Jesus that they too will meet Him and have opportunity for new life too!
Story- “MAKE ME LIKE JOE”
A troubled homeless man named Joe gave his life to Jesus at a downtown city mission. Before this, Joe had gained the reputation of being a drunk for whom there was no hope, only a miserable existence living on the street. But following Joe committing to a new life with God, everything changed. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission doing whatever needed to be done. There was never any task that was too low for Joe to take on. There was never anything that he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up after someone had been sick or scrubbing the toilets after careless men left the bathroom filthy, Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and with a seeming gratitude for the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered into the mission off the street, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves.
One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar and knelt to pray, calling out for God to help him to change. This man kept saying, “Oh God, make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!”
The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, “I think it would be better if you prayed, ‘Make me like Jesus!’”
The man looked up at the director with a puzzled expression on his face and asked, “Is he like Joe?”
It’s hard to live a new life in an old world, but is it possible?
YES, BECAUSE OF JESUS !