Romans 6 Part 1 (Erin and Kathryn)
HAM Identity Project Oct. 22, 2013
Romans 6: Know, Consider, Present!
Teachers: Erin Tyrrell and Katherine Hughes
How does a person get to know God? Is it by being good? Is it by saying some “secret password prayer” that will get you into heaven? None of this is the answer, though! What (and where) is the answer, then? Romans 3 and 4 told us that having a relationship with Christ requires faith–faith means actively believing that what Christ did for you on the cross. God took away the punishment of our sins for us on the cross.
Romans 10:9 — Confess with your mouth Jesus is lord and believe in heart God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.
This is just a picture of what faith is. It’s the belief and trust of Jesus’ death on cross for our sins and the resurrection. After you have faith in Christ, he can change your heart to take action in this new life he promises you. These things aren’t “pre-requisites” to accepting Christ–it’s to spiritually mature AFTER you come to know Christ. That means taking ACTION, which can (and will) change your life dramatically.
Last week, we learned about Adam from the OT. What happened is he brought sin into the world and from then, time there on out including today means we will all have sin nature. That totally sucks and seems unfair–we’re all damaged from this. It’s unfair til you realize Christ came to make the world righteous again as it’s supposed to be in his sight. And Christ’s death doesn’t end sin (it still happens) but it introduces God’s grace and allows us to come back to him (if we choose to). Until we do that, we are bound to sin nature and death up until that point where we identify ourselves with Christ.
This is Stage 1: Knowing. We know we are dead to sin.
Romans 6:1-5 — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become [a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [b]in the likeness of His resurrection…
Paul says we are dead to our sins because Christ died for our sins, not meaning you are “sinless,” but Christ offers us something new.
Romans 6:6-7 — knowing this, that our old [c]self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be [d]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is [e]freed from sin.
No longer means that we once were slave to sin (we once were). Dead to sin? What does this mean. Sin isn’t just the “bad” things we do–it’s deeper than the actions we carry out. Because of the sin nature we have, we can see there’s something wrong with humanity and the world. We usually battle with this every day. The sin is rooted in our heart and it disconnects us from God.
And sin leads to death. The National Institute of Mental Health says 66 percent of people in the world have the fear of dying. Death is not the worst thing that could happen biblically. The bible talks about spiritual death. The Greek word for biblical death is “thanatos,” and means that separation (natural or violent) in which soul is separated from body and sent to hell. It’s life without God forever.
For people who died with Christ, they will be raised up again with Christ, conquering the sin nature. Christ was crucified with our sin nature, allowing us to have that relationship. Those who believe in this have a new identity with Christ, united with him, no longer needing to be enslaved to sin or taken over by it. So we adopt this new Christ-like identity. From now on out, what is true for Christ is true for you.
Romans 6:8 — Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Our identity with Christ is fruitless unless we consider and act on this.
This is Stage 2: Consider
Romans 6:11 — Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Believe what God is saying to you! You have this new life–so forget about the old ways. Let’s say a friend gives you a $100 bill and then, you go home and see it on the counter. It’s like, “Cool!” but then you don’t believe it’s yours and you’re apprehensive about it. So you just leave it and don’t take it. Your friend is confused, saying, “Hey. This $100 is yours. Why not take it?” But you are still apprehensive and unsure whether it’s actually yours, and you think it’s a joke. So regardless of whether the $100 is yours, you’re out $100 if you don’t believe it’s yours. So God is trying to say, “Hey. This new identity is yours. Believe it!”
Do you see yourself the way that God sees you? Do you still think you’re worthless? You keep failing and that’s how your life is going to be?
Or do you see yourself the way God sees you and you can boldly come to Him with anything?
If you see yourself that first way, this is where faith comes in: Where you begin to trust in what God says is true for your life now.
Our culture is crazy in that it tells us “you are what you want.” But what our culture does is leads us in the wrong direction. And it causes us to not trust in God–you might start to think, “You don’t understand, God! You can’t know my life, really.” (But Hebrews 4:15).
God doesn’t want us to feel “guilty” for our sins, either, fearful. That view is also not accurate with what the Bible says about Christians and this new identity. The view distances us with God, and if we believe what we want and not what the Bible says, we’re truly missing out on this new identity. Changing your mentality is a struggle–it’s easy to want to feel “guilty” and that you have to “pay for your sins.”
Quick Rewind
- You need to know that you are sinful in Adam and that God has taken that sin out of authority with Christ’s death on the cross when you let that count for you.
** It’s possible to know something, but not benefit from it because you don’t trust it.
- Consider–actually believing God’s trusting and means what he says
- Act / Present — and do not go on presenting [g]the members of your body to sin as [h]instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as [i]instruments of righteousness to God.
This does not mean present yourself in unrighteousness or in your “old self.”
What does Present mean? It’s the action step, and means showing up in your identity. We do this every day, whether we think it or not. What does I.D. mean? Identification Document.
Re-read Romans 6:13 — and do not go on presenting [g]the members of your body to sin as [h]instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as [i]instruments of righteousness to God.
^ We need to present ourselves as instruments of righteousness, not unrighteousness.
Unrighteousness is making your identity what you were BEFORE accepting Christ. You aren’t going to be very victorious if you do that. (Ie: Say you’re an Office Max worker. Say you show up to work not in uniform or ready for work. That’s not presenting yourself). The contrast is being an “instrument of righteousness,” presenting yourself, acting on what you know and believe in what God says is true. God says you are righteous and you are not slave to sin. You have to believe this and then act on this truth.
First, you need to know what God says: 1) You are delivered from sin nature’s authority (Romans 6:6; Colossians 2:11-12); 2) Forgiveness thru Jesus’ death for sin (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13-14); 3) Adoption as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5); 4) Inheritance (Ephesians 1:11, 14).
Second, you can consider and believe these things are true. Some symptoms of not considering or knowing and / or presenting oneself are that 1) There will be no deep-seated change or growth in our lives and people have a more superficial view of sin; 2) People will have more destructive reactions to guilt feelings (defensiveness, preoccupation with your wrongs, resentment, bitterness toward others, or man-pleasing); 3) Unhealthy relationships, material anxiety, and fear of rejection; 4) Vulnerability to temporal, worldly security and fear of death.
Third, you will present and take your eyes off yourself and actually act on these things. 1) Openness about besetting sins; faithful and patient with God’s strategy; other-centered focus; 2) Forgiving others; honesty with others about sin; 3) Stability in relationships (decisions not based on infantile demands); generous with God’s provisions (financial, material); 4) Willingness to take risks; not seek unhealthy way out of trials and suffering; long-term investment in serving others.
Fourth, there are results! 1) Freedom from sin’s control!; 2) Acceptance apart from performance!; 3) Belonging–security in this life!; 4) Security in the next life !!!
Trying to do it yourself kind of puts your eyes on yourself, short-circuiting that dependence. When we try to make ourselves spiritually better can lead to pridefulness and self-righteousness. You’re living a lie–living under the law. You don’t actually grow spiritually, get to know God better or have much excitement there. Growth comes from ACTUAL reliance on the Lord. This process can be applied to any “identity truth” in the Bible.
Identity Truths always start with “in Christ” verses in the Bible.
A lot of people don’t understand “Know, Consider, Present” for a long time! When living under self-reliance (ie: jobs, positions, etc), you might make small steps as a Christian, but you aren’t actually considering what Christ says is true and acting on it with faith. Ye of little faith!
But reliance on God can create much peace, joy and love. Christ doesn’t view Christians as they are in Adam, but he views us as we are in Christ! So are you walking around having no joy? Are you feeling depressed or lackluster? It could be because you aren’t grasping these identity truths–and you do that by knowing them, considering them true and then acting on them. God wants us to have this whole new life, and a big part of it comes on grasping the new identity. And we have to make a choice to trust in what God says about us. Most of us (in college) are at a critical stage in development, making way in world with so many decisions. You’re at point identity crisis: Which identity will you choose to live out? And how we view our identity changes the way we live.
Get to know these identity truths:
If you don’t know Christ, you’ve probably heard a lot tonight about what to do AFTER you accept Christ. Paul was writing a letter to Christians in Rome. But see from this that being in Christ can change your life significantly. See Romans 6:23– For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ, our Lord.
This is a gift because God did the work for us. All we have to do is want his death to count for us. This, in a way, is presenting yourself to God, coming to him, saying, “I don’t have anything to offer and I want to change.”
List of Identity Truths (not complete…just a bunch)
– Romans 6:10-11: We are alive in Christ, dead in sin
– Romans 8:2: We are freed from the law of sin
– John 1:12: We are children of God
– Romans 8:17: We are joint heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him
– 1 Corinthians 12:27: We are members in the Body of Christ
– 2 Corinthians 5:17: We are new creations
– 2 Corinthians 5:18: We are reconciled to God
– 2 Corinthians 2:14: We are triumphant
– Ephesians 2:6: We are citizens of heaven
– Colossians 3:12: We are chosen of God, holy and dearly loved
– Romans 8:1: We are free from condemnation
– Hebrews 3:1: We are partakers of God’s calling
– Philippians 4:7: We are people with inner peace of mind
– Galatians 3:28: We are equal with others
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