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October 9 - Romans 6 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday.
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  It's the 9th of October grand that you've tapped on play.
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  Thank you for inviting me into your day as we continue this,
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  this remarkable book of Romans, as we hear Paul writing to this
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  church, trying to help them get their heads around the fact that
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  being a part of God's church, being a part of God's family,
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  does not happen because we do the right thing, but because we
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  have faith in Jesus. It's so hard for them to get
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  their heads around. How can we possibly live as
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  God's people without that happening because of us
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  following the law? Like they, they are just
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  struggling to get their heads around it.
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  And then some have taken it to the NTH degree and said we can
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  do whatever shameful things we want to because hey, we're
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  forgiven and we're loved no matter what we do.
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  And so Paul's trying to create a little bit of balance here.
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  And I've been trying to think of a good analogy and this is the
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  best I've come up with. Like a jazz musician, right.
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  So you have learnt the rules of your instrument and you're
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  playing beautifully following the the sheet music in front of
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  you. And then you're told you don't
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  have to follow the music. You can improvise, you can just
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  play music, whatever comes to your heart, you can just play
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  and and see what happens. And of course if people just
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  play any old notes, it's going to sound horrible.
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  But if they play following that chord progression, then it's
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  going to sound beautiful and they can play whatever they want
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  to within that that structure of the chord progression.
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  What do you reckon? That's not too bad.
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  It might not be the best analogy, but it's the best one I
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  could come up with. So let us hear my slack
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  analogies aside. How Paul helps these people get
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  their heads around this incredible new way of being as
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  we read together Romans chapter 6.
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  Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us
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  more and more of his wonderful grace?
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  Of course not. Since we have died to sin, how
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  can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when
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  we were joined with Christ Jesus and baptism, we joined him in
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  his death? For we died and were buried with
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  Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised
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  from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also
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  may live new lives. Since we have been united with
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  Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was.
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  We know their old sinful cells were crucified with Christ so
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  that sin might lose its power in our lives.
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  We are no longer slaves to sin, for when we died with Christ, we
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  were set free from the power of sin.
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  And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with
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  Him. We are sure of this because
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  Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again.
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  Death no longer has any power over him.
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  When he died, He died once to break the power of sin, but now
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  that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
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  So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the
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  power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
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  Do not let sin control the way you live.
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  Do not give in to sinful desires.
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  Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to
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  serve sin. Instead, give yourselves
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  completely to God. For you were dead, but now you
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  have new life. So use your whole body as an
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  instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
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  Sin is no longer your Master, for you no longer live under the
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  requirements of the Law. Instead you live under the
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  freedom of God's grace. Well then, since God's grace has
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  set us free from the law, does that mean you can go on sinning?
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  Of course not. Don't you realise that you
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  become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?
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  You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can
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  choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
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  Thank God, once you were slaves of sin, but now you
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  wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.
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  Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have
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  become slaves to righteous living because of the weakness
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  of your human nature. I'm using the illustration of
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  slavery to help you understand all this.
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  Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and
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  lawlessness, which led even deeper into sin.
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  Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so
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  that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you
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  were free from the obligation to do right.
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  And what was the result? You were now ashamed of the
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  things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
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  But now you are free from the power of sin and have become
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  slaves of God. Now you do those things that
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  lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
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  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
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  eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
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  Oh Jesus, as we hear these words that Paul has written inspired
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  by your spirit, we hear that we are just slaves looking for a
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  master, aren't we? Our human nature is looking for
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  something to serve, and we can either serve our sinful desire,
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  which leads us into shame and self loathing and distance from
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  You, or we can choose to become slaves to your righteousness.
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  And in that we can live in this freedom, this beautiful freedom
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  that you have given us. This freedom to live according
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  to the best way for us to live because you have made us and you
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  know the best way for us to live.
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  And that's in relationship with you, where we know our worth and
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  we are competent in who we are in our identity as your
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  children, your friends. Oh, thank you for what you have
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  done for us. Thank you for who you are and
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  who you have made us. Help us every day to choose you
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  to be a slave to your ways and not the other.
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  So we love you and we say thank you for all that you've done for
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  us and this incredible gift that you give us.
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  And we pray all of this in your wonderful saving name, Jesus,
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  Amen.