I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live…
—Galatians 2:20a (NIV)
As a Christian, I died *with* Christ. On the cross. Yes, crucified. Nailed to the cross. He died. And so did I. Christ died and we call it Good Friday. But I had a “Good Friday” day, too. It was the day I died. It was the day I was crucified.
But how can this be? Christ died 2000 years ago. I was not even alive then. How could I die when I did not even yet exist? What am I talking about? I am talking about my own “Good Friday”.
It was the day I got baptized as a new Christian. That is the day the “old me” died. The old me that was a slave to sin. The old me with its old, self-centered way of thinking. The old me that could never achieve a clean, sin-free life. The old me that failed continually. The old me that was always coming up short. The old me that always found itself in a state of not enough. That is the me that was crucified and died.
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Rome. In the sixth chapter he is very emphatic about the association of a Christian’s baptism with the death of Jesus, the Christ. Let me show you a few phrases:
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
—Romans 6:3 (NIV)
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death…
—Romans 6:4a (NIV)
…we have been united with him in a death like his…
—Romans 6:5a (NIV)
For we know that our old self was crucified with him…
—Romans 6:6a (NIV)
…we died with Christ…
—Romans 6:8a (NIV)
I did not include the whole chapter here. But I encourage you to read it in its entirety. Romans chapter 6 carries one of the most victorious messages ever spelled out for a Christian. And when you do read it, note (as I have here) the statements about the death of the “old you”.
This is all good. But what comes next is better. Far better!
Can you guess what is next? I’ll give you three tries and the first two don’t count. Ha! Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God arose from the dead. Yep. He rolled away the stone to His own grave. He is the Mighty Champion of Heaven! Death did not hold Him down. He conquered sin and death. And God has given him a Name that is far above all other names.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist. You know what is coming next, don’t you?
…just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
—Romans 6:4b (NIV)
…we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
—Romans 6:5b (NIV)
we will also live with him.
—Romans 6:8b (NIV)
Our old selves are united with Christ in His death on the cross and our old selves are buried with Christ in the tomb. But our old selves do not get resurrected. Our new selves are born!
Remember the last blog post? The one about the Finality of the Cross? Remember how the sacrificial death of Jesus, the Christ, satisfied the absolutely holy requirements of a righteous God? And that it was a once-for-all-time-never-to-be-repeated event?
Let’s put that first verse together with the next verse:
10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
—Romans 6:10-11
Do you see what happened here? Verse 10 was in the last post. I wanted you to understand the finality of Christ’s death and resurrection. That was a setup for this post. It is so you would better understand verse 11.
Look at how it begins—In the same way. You understood the finality of verse 10. The introduction to verse 11 sets us up for an out-of-the-park homer! Just as the death and resurrection was a once-for-all-time-never-to-be-repeated event, so is the death of the old you and the birth of the new you!
“Count yourselves”. Like one, two, three, four? Nope. Like reckon yourselves, or consider yourselves. That kind of count. Do you count yourself lucky? Do you count yourself happy? Do you consider yourself to be loving or kind? Do you reckon that you are impatient? These are all uses of words with similar meanings. In reality, it is how you see yourself. In your own accounting book of self, you count yourself like this. It is your self perception.
Now I’m not getting into psychology-babble here. Paul wants you to understand how you should see your new, alive-to-God-in-Christ-Jesus self. How is that? There are just two things: 1) You are dead to sin, and 2) alive to God.
What does that mean? Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden. God told Adam not to eat the fruit of just one tree. The penalty was “when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17) But when Adam and Eve ate of that tree they were thrown out of the Garden. But they did not die right away. At least physical death. That happened to Adam some 900 years later. So what “death” happened on the day they were thrown out? It was a spiritual death—a separation from God.
Likewise, in Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus he writes that we were dead in our transgressions and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) In other words, we were “dead” to God. In the following verses we find that we were “alive” to sin by nature.
Jesus did what we could not do on our own. He conquered sin and death on our behalf. Oh, sure. You might have said “no” to some actions you called “sin”. But that does not change your nature. Jesus changed your insides. He changed your nature. When you try to overcome sin yourself you discredit the work of Christ. It is because you want the credit yourself for overcoming sin(s). I spent blah-blah hours reading my Bible, or in prayer, or fasting, or any other thing that you think might produce victory over sin. But there is only One who did that.
And besides, He’s already won that battle for you. He conquered the power of sin on your behalf. It’s yours to take up by faith. How do you do that?
Our faith is in what Christ has already done. It is His accomplishment, not ours, that matters. Since it is already a once-for-all-time-never-to-be-repeated event which Jesus accomplished on our behalf, then it is ours to receive with a grateful heart.
Say things like this: “Thank you Jesus, because of your once-for-all-time sacrifice, I am dead and unresponsive to sin! Thank you, Lord, for giving me a new nature! Thank you for making me alive and responsive to God. Thank you Lord for setting me free from bondage!
Say it often. Don’t go through a day without thanking Jesus for setting you free. You are not a person trying to be free. That would be your effort. You are relaxed and at peace because Jesus did all the heavy lifting.
But what about sins? Why do they still happen? Take courage, dear reader! Keep saying what you know Christ has already done. Believe it. Be convinced of it. It is the truth that makes you free. You know it in your heart. That is why Jesus came to earth. It was so we could be reconciled to God.
I have a “Good Friday”—the day I died. So do you, dear Christian! I have a day I was raised into a new life. It’s my Easter. I share it with Jesus. And so do you! Next time you have communion I want you to think about your old self dying with Christ and being raised into a new life. In communion, we remember Christ’s death—and now we remember our death, too! And when you drink the wine (or grape juice) think about raising it in a salute to a new life! Cheers to being alive to God in Christ Jesus, my friend!
And look for my next post. We’ll deal more with the whole sin dilemma. We’ve only scratched the surface on the victorious life that is ours by the riches of His grace!
Duct Tape Rx 