Living this new life…

 
This morning I’m tempted to cut and paste; first from the Bible and then from my devotional book. Yesterday was filled with God’s presence and power — in our worship service, in conversations with others, and in witnessing someone enter the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. After that, we had a lovely time with family and watched our home team win another game in NHL playoffs. Lots of emotions, much to stimulate my mind and choices.

Today the topic is freedom from the slavery of sin. All this is incredible good news as we see the results in our own lives and the lives of our Christian family. “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:6)
How did this happen? The NT tells the events in the life of Jesus Christ and how that affects our lives. Our choices are expanded. Yes, I can still sin, but first He gives me this option:

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:10–11)

And with a new way of thinking, I’m also given a new ‘task master’ which is a negative word to describe the One who gave me this new life:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness… For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:16–23)

While the choice to live in newness of life seems the winner, the Bible warns against the pull to return to life under those old options. It says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

The devotional illustrates how a woman can have a job and is obligated to do what her boss asks, but they love each other and decide to marry her — the relationship changes. Her reason for doing her job is different. While that describes the difference in her motivation, it also describes how her ‘boss’ is no longer the same. Instead of the world, her old nature, and all sorts of other ideas, her life is now in the hands of the Son of God and she is united to Him and His perfect love.

Unfaithfulness to that perfection seems so unlikely, yet it happens. In Christ Jesus the choices of the old life count for nothing. He wants from me faith working through love. I might start well but become hindered from obeying the truth, and that is not His idea. I know that even a little temptation can initiate a big crash. It could come from a worldly desire, or yielding to false teaching, or the pressure of persecution, or lies from the enemy. However, Jesus called me to freedom, and not use that freedom as an opportunity to go back to the habits of my old nature. I’m to love others, even my enemies, and that means being like Jesus. He listens, wants the best for me, pays attention to the details of my life, is always there for me, never puts me to shame…

PRAY: You, Jesus, are wonderful. To be like You is not slavery at all but a joyful way to live. May the delight of being dead to sin always keep me alive to You and reflecting Your love to the world around me, especially to Your children and increasingly to those who need to experience the same freedom You alone can give.

Godly Living isn’t Popular (October 16, 2020)

 

1 Kings 19; Psalm 105; Daniel 1; 1 Thessalonians 2

One of the big questions asks, “What is the purpose of my life?” This is framed in various ways that boil down to “Why am I here?” or for Christians, “What does God want me to do?”

In the OT, the answer came in the Ten Commandments plus the other laws that God gave to His people. While many assume that these were laws defining how they could be saved from sin, this is not the case. Those laws were to define them as God’s covenant people. They were to live differently than the pagans who did not know God and had no relationship with Him.

The NT says the same thing. Those who believe God and are His people through faith in Jesus Christ are to be distinct, living according to the will of God rather than running their lives apart from Him. God’s Word defines the Christian life as well as the life of those who trusted God before Christ came. The difference is that all discovered that they could not fully obey the laws of God. Our sinfulness trips us up and we fall short of His high standards. We need Jesus who became sin for us that we could have His righteousness and be declared just by God.

An OT example of this is Daniel. He was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and chosen for special duties. He and his friends were fed food and wine daily from the king’s table but this food did not conform to the requirements of God’s Laws. It was prepared by Gentiles rendering it unclean. It may have included items forbidden by the Law. It had also been sacrificed and offered to pagan gods before it was offered to the king. God’s people were forbidden to eat anything sacrificed to pagan gods.

The wine was also a problem. The OT forbade “strong drink” so God’s people diluted wine with water, up to 10 parts of water to 1 part of wine but not so the Babylonians. This made both the food and drink forbidden and since Daniel wanted to please God, he resolved that even though he was in a culture that did not follow God’s laws, he would consider himself under the His Law. He requested a trial diet of vegetables (a word that could include grains) and it resulted in him and his friend appearing healthier than those who were on the king’s diet. Not only does this show how God honors those who trust and obey Him, it indicates how living according to the Word of the Lord means living distinctively, not like the rest of those around us.

A NT example is the church at Thessalonica. Paul was thankful for these Christians and expressed how his life and their lives were different and made a difference:

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! (1 Thessalonians 2:9–16)

Paul lived a blameless life that affected these who believed in Christ. They received God’s Word and followed the godly examples of others. Yet it is important to realize that this life is not always popular! Daniel eventually suffered and nearly died because he followed the will of God. Many Christians experience ridicule, persecution of various forms, and even death because we are living for Christ and not ourselves. As verse 6 says, obedience to God means not seeking glory from people but living so God is glorified.

APPLY: So far, most of the opposition I face is from Satan and his cohorts who have tried all sorts of ways to stop me from prayer and ruin my determination to be a godly person. I’m thankful that the Lord is my refuge and protection, and that He can overcome all that comes against me. I need to remember the courage of Daniel and that godly living does not mean popularity: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12)