Romans 6 verses 1 to 11

Romans 6 verses 1 to 11

So we continue with our look at Paul’s letter to the Romans and as Campbell explained when he preached on Romans Chapter 5 - there is a world of difference in God’s eyes between a Christian - someone who is in Christ  – and someone who isn’t yet a Christian – someone who is still in Adam.

Although we might all look the same on the outside – an amazing spiritual transformation has taken place in the lives of those who have been born again –and this is what today’s passage from Romans is fundamentally about.

I was trying to think of an analogy to compare with this transformation and the best I could come up with is a caterpillar changing into a butterfly – but even this doesn’t really do it justice.

In order to understand this transformation we need to start by appreciating our spiritual condition as children of Adam - before we become Christians – our caterpillar-like state if you will.

According to the bible, before we become Christians – although God loves us - spiritually speaking we are in a very bad way. We find ourselves alienated from God – separated and cut off from relationship with him – by our sinfulness.

So in spiritual terms – before we become Christians – even though we may be nice people – we are all tainted by sin and actually therefore unclean in God’s eyes.

As the prophet Isaiah puts it – all of us have become like one who is unclean.

Furthermore because our sin hurts other people and offends God we are deserving of God’s judgement.

And even worse, before we make our peace with God and cease rebellion against Him, - Paul says in the previous chapter of Romans that we are actually enemies of God.

So - in our caterpillar-like spiritual state –we are cut off from God, unclean, unforgiven, deserving of judgement, and enemies of God.

But of course as Paul has been explaining to us over the previous couple of chapters of Romans – God doesn’t want to leave us in this sorry state.

Because He loves us - and because we are of great value in His eyes - He came in the person of Jesus to reconcile us to Himself – to put us right with Him and to deal with the consequences of our sin and rebellion.

And in these verses from Romans we get an insight into how - through the cross - God made it possible for us to change from poor bedraggled sinners into his beloved children.

And He did this in a surprising way. As Paul tells us here in verse 6 - He did it by crucifying our old selves - the unclean, unforgiven people we used to be –– with Christ.

Our old selves - were put to death with Christ on the cross so that we could be re-born as new people – people no longer enslaved by sin – verse 6.

So if you’re a Christian here today – spiritually speaking - you really are a new creation. As Paul says in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians; if anyone is in Christ, HE IS a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come.

At the moment you came to believe in Jesus, your old self died - and you were born again as a new person in God’s eyes.

As Paul says in his letter to the Colossians - you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

And of course this is what the symbolism of baptism is all about. In baptism - the old person you used to be – the sinner enslaved by sin – is symbolically buried and laid to rest in the water – and the new creation – the new you - who has been freed from slavery to sin - emerges from the water to start their new life in Christ.

So if you have been born again – you may look the same on the outside – but within, an amazing spiritual transformation has taken place in your life.

You have been re-born as a child of God. You are no longer a sinner in God’s eyes but a saint. And you have a new nature – Christ in you – the nature to be Christ like.

You are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit - the spirit of Jesus.

You have been saved from God’s wrath and you have crossed over from death to life.

You have been made clean by the blood of Jesus and God now sees you as righteous – made right with him.

Your sin has been atoned for by Jesus and you have been set free from the law of sin and death.

As Paul explains in today’s passage – you have been incorporated into Christ’s death and resurrection. You have been united with Christ in his death and you will certainly also be united with Christ in his resurrection – verse 5.

And because you died with Christ, you will also one day live with him in heaven – verse 8.

Some of you have heard me mention a great bible teacher called Roger Price whose teaching was a tremendous help to me when I was a younger.

He identified 37 different things that happen to a person when they become a Christian – 37 things which accompany salvation – and I have a photocopy with a summary of these things which I’ve put at the back of the church.

So, our transition from a sinful caterpillar into a saintly butterfly is achieved for us by Christ’s death and resurrection. And we as Christians were involved in that death and resurrection.

To use my analogy - the old sinful caterpillars we used to be were crucified with Christ – and then buried with him by baptism – verse 3; and in the same way that Jesus was raised from the dead - we were reborn as beautiful Christian butterflies and raised to new life with him – verse 4.

And the death of our old selves frees us, as the later verses of today’s reading tell us.

It frees us to start new lives with Christ. It frees us from the law of sin and death. It frees us from condemnation and judgement. It frees us from our bondage to sin. It frees us from our fear of death and it frees us to become servants of the living God.

And understanding that we have died is central to understanding our new identities as children of God. Although we may look the same in the mirror, in spiritual terms we have completely changed.

We are now holy and redeemed. We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the God’s kingdom.

We are now God’s beloved children and we have become clean in His eyes – so we can approach him with confidence.

We are no longer under condemnation – because when we died – we died to the law. And we no longer need to fear judgement because Jesus has already been judged and punished in our place.

Do you start to get the picture? Paul says a bit later in Romans chapter 12, that we are to be transformed – or transfigured – by the renewing of our minds.

As we start to take on board who we are in Christ – and start to see ourselves as God sees us – it will change our whole outlook on life – and we can start to live in the freedom that God intends for us.

This is why Jesus said; “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

And as we get to know the truth it can have a great healing effect on our lives. For instance before we became Christians we may have felt unloved and suffered with feelings of unworthiness or low self esteem.

But as Christians we can know that we are holy and dearly loved and that we are of great worth in God’s eyes. In fact we were valuable enough in God’s eyes to be worth dying for.

There was a lady at my previous church who had very low self esteem – and she went to a Church weekend at a Christian retreat called Ashburnham – which some of you will know.

During this retreat God gave this lady a vision of how He saw her. And seeing herself through God’s eyes – she saw that she was beautiful and radiant and holy and loved.

She saw that she was precious and of great value in His eyes. And she saw also that she radiated light. His light shone out of her. What she saw amazed her and transformed her view of herself.

And if you’re a Christian that is how God sees you. Although you sin and get things wrong you are no longer a sinner. You’re a saint – someone who belongs to the family and Kingdom of God. And as such, in God’s eyes you are amazing and precious – of great value.

And because God has made us new people at great cost - there is an onus on us to live holy lives – both out of love and gratitude to God – and also so that others can see something of the light and life of Christ shining out of us.

And this is Paul’s point in the latter verses of today’s reading. He says for instance in verses 12 and 13 – that we should not let sin exercise dominion in our mortal bodies and use our bodies as instruments of wickedness.

Rather we should present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer Him our bodies as instruments of righteousness.

We should offer God the use of our eyes to see those people He wants us to love and reach out to; our hands to pray for and lay on people in Jesus name; our mouths to tell people that Jesus loves them; and our feet to walk where He tells us.

God has made us new - but more than anything He wants us now to reach out in His name to those around us so that they too can be reconciled to Him – and so that He can make them new as well.

And this is the good news for you sitting here today – if you haven’t yet been reconciled to God – if spiritually speaking you’re still a caterpillar.

More than anything God wants you to come to Him and allow Him to make you new, to make you His child.

Most of you will know the story of the prodigal son which is my favourite parable.

The son who has left home and squandered his inheritance on wild living – finds himself looking after pigs. Pigs were unclean to Jews so this was just about the worst job anyone could have.

So in this story we have a person who symbolically is cut off from God and unclean, whose clothing is soiled by sin.

But the son makes up his mind that even if it means being a servant he wants to return to His father’s house – so he sets out for home.

And His Father who has been keeping an eye out for him ever since he left home, sees him from far off and goes running to meet him and to welcome him home.

And He embraces him and puts a clean robe on him and a ring on his finger and holds a party for his return.

Spiritually speaking God takes off his dirty old garment - and clothes Him in a clean white robe and the ring He gives him is a sign of belonging to His family.

And that is what God wants to do for you this morning. If you don’t yet know Him - if you haven’t yet been reconciled to Him – He wants to embrace you as His child and welcome you into his family. He wants to make you clean and to offer you a new start in life.

Sometimes I close with a prayer as an opportunity for people to make their peace with God.

But this morning I think that God wants to meet with people at the communion rail.

If you’re a Christian, He wants you to walk to the communion rail in the knowledge that you are His child, that you are holy and redeemed and precious in His sight.

And as you take communion you can thank and worship Him for all He has done for you through Jesus.

And if you’re not yet a Christian and you want to be reconciled to God – if you want to come to God and to be richly welcomed into His family, - if you want to be forgiven and made new, - if you want to be clothed with a robe of righteousness – as you walk up the aisle to communion - imagine yourself like the prodigal son - walking home towards God – and then kneel before Him at the communion rail and ask Him to forgive you for rebelling against Him and to make you His child.

In the name of the living God. Amen.