New Life in Christ – Romans 6

Joy:  You’re listening to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Episode #123.  Today we’ll read the 6th chapter of Romans together.  Paul tells us how our new life in Christ takes us from being slaves to sin to slaves of God.

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me as we simply read God’s word together.  Some things require discipline and sometimes that’s just not easy to muster by yourself, no matter how badly you want to do it or how much you know you should.  It’s just easier to do it with a friend.  So refill your coffee or tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair and follow along as I read aloud.  I’m so glad you’re here!

Welcome

I am very excited today!  First, I’ll tell you a sad part of a story.  But – spoiler alert – it has a happy ending.  We didn’t get to take kids to church camp this summer.  I don’t have to tell you why…it’s a familiar lament told ‘round the world in 2020.  I’m not sure any of us knew how to act because my little church has been taking a boatload of kids to camp for, like, 35 years.  The same camp, which itself is over sixty years old.  Worse than our kids missing the season, was that the camp missed a whole season.  It was financially devastating for them and our precious camp was put up for sale.  None of us could imagine it. One of the couples that goes to our church even got married at that camp!  It’s that much a part of our church DNA. 

Happy Ending

Now, I’m a grownup and I know that we would have found a replacement camp and we would have grown to love that one too.  But that didn’t keep me from being sad in the moment.  Now the happy ending.  I received a forwarded email from our church secretary from the camp program we usually participate with.  The headline to the email was that there was a new camp “near” us that turned out to be in another state.  Probably not gonna happen.  But in smaller print at the bottom of the email was written that they still had dates at our camp – the one that was being sold! 

I immediately got in touch with the program director and he confirmed that it looks like there might be a buyer for our camp and planning is going forward in that vain.  Yay!  The tradition lives!  Ask me now if I immediately logged on and reserved our spots….

 Romans Chapter 6

The New Life in Christ

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Crucified with Him

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey — either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh.

For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification — and the outcome is eternal life! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Closing Thoughts

This chapter starts out by compelling us to think about baptism and understanding the symbolism attached with immersion.  Close your eyes and imagine a baptism, perhaps your own.  A person is laid back and goes completely under the water, symbolizing his or her death with Christ – dying to the old sin nature.  Then that person comes up out of the water in the newness of life in Christ…resurrected if you will, never to die again.  You can open your eyes now, but don’t forget the new life you have in Christ, every minute of every day.  The chapter goes on to say that Christians are no longer slaves to sin but to righteousness.  Sin no longer has power over us. 

Will we sin?  Oh, absolutely.  We’ll talk about that a little bit more in Chapter 7.  But we can take a stand knowing that sin has no power over us.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit to resist.  It’s a whole different ballgame.  Finally, after differentiating between the fruit resulting from the sin nature vs the fruit of righteousness, Paul pens one of the most notable and familiar verses in Romans.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Prayer

Let’s pray.  Lord, thank You for this incredible gift of eternal life with You.  We can say, “Death, where is your victory?  Death, where is your sting?”  Thank You, Jesus, that in You, we no longer have that death sentence for sin.  Guide us, Holy Spirit, and give us the courage to resist when the enemy thinks he can have us back.  Reminds us he has no power over us.  Only in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray God will grow in you what has been planted and watered here.  In this time of unprecedented struggle worldwide, we can look to God for guidance and comfort.  Be sensitive to those in your circle of influence who need a word of encouragement and invite them to join us.  If you like this show, it would be great if you give it a five-star review.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you right here tomorrow.  Be well!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.