Taking it deeper

1. In your personal devotional life, which do you tend to focus on more—the fact that Christ has set us free from sin and death and hell . . . or . . . the fact that we are free to serve God with a life of good works? Should one of those facts be pondered more than the other?

Answer - In their personal lives, most people tend to focus on what we are free to do. When we meditate about these things, quantity of time is not really what is vital. Rather, it is vital that we understand cause and effect. The good news that we are free from sin and death and hell is what provides the proper motivation to serve God with a life of good works. If we focus solely on the fact that God has set us free to serve him, it will lead to one of two places. Either we will despair, thinking that we haven't served him as well as we could. Or we will become self-righteous, believing we have served God so well, we are more worthy of his attention and blessing than others. It is good to meditate upon all the ways we are free to serve God—in our jobs, in our homes, in our church, in our community. But that must be predicated upon the understanding that Christ has set us free from condemnation when we fail, free from the need to squirm our way into God's good favor, etc.

2. In Romans 6:4, Paul writes, "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." What part of us was buried with Christ at the time of our baptism?

Answer - Our sinful nature. Or, we sometimes call it our "old Adam" or "old self" or "old man" or "sinful flesh." It all means the same thing. The part of us that was bound to do nothing but sin was drowned and killed in our baptism. By the power of the Spirit who came upon us in our baptism and now dwells within us, we can say "no" to ungodly behavior.

In that verse, Paul is using an argument from the greater to the lesser. The "greater" thing is reanimating a corpse. The "lesser" thing is helping someone change the way they live their life. What point is Paul making?

Answer - If God can reanimate the dead, then certainly he has the power to enable us to control our tongue or avoid lustful thoughts or keep our materialistic heart in check. If one says, "I simply cannot avoid this sin. The temptation is too great," he thinks too little of his God. God has set us free from slavery to sin and set us free to live before him as a saint. We do this without fear, for we know if we fail, Christ's righteousness covers over our weakness.