Rom. 7:7-12, The Sufficiency of the Cross Applied (2)

In Colossians who might have been cheating the Believers?  In some cases it was those “Judaizers” who tried to make the Church Jewish.  They tried to bring Christians back “under law” and thus not “under grace.”  Since Christ had satisfied the law, and was “the end of the law for righteousness” (Rom. 10:4), a return to the law was a return to the flesh and thus “carnal” Christianity.  It also might have been the “mystery religions” of the Roman Empire.  These promoted a religion that allowed you to submit to the Emperor as God or Savior, but who also had their own liturgy and doctrine to follow.  Most of them were wed to the Greek “Gnostic” philosophy that, among other things, claimed that in addition to Christ and the Bible you needed additional special knowledge (Grk. gnosis).  I think you see all of this in Paul’s words in places like Col. 2:8,16-23.  

It is no different today.  Any religion that tells us there is a “law” by which we can be righteous and have a right standing before God, they also are trying to cheat us, to keep us from holding fast to Christ, our Head, from whom we receive all we need to grow into His likeness (cf. Col. 2:18-19).  Paul illustrated this in the Ten Commandments which said, “Thou shalt not covet” (Ex. 20:17).  I could quote the law every day, and it would not cure my covetousness.  Only what I have in Christ can change my life.  If I continue to commit this sin I have not forgotten the law; rather, I have forgotten who I am in Christ. 

The problem is not just the “law of Moses.”  Every religion calls people to a carnal (fleshly) approach to righteousness and a right standing before God.  They all have laws/rules of some sort that are the key to fulfilling the demands of said religion.  Hinduism has the Dharma, Islam the five Pillars, Catholicism has seven sacraments, Seventh Day Adventists these days mainly judge you “in food or in drink,” and in the mega-business called Latter Day Saints the top of nearly every list is that you pay the tithe.  But hear this: any pastor who tells you that you can solve some deep moral issue by ABC or 12 steps or 10 laws is potentially setting you up for the frustration and failure of living in the flesh.

Before giving you specifics, you might consider me a hypocrite because I told you, from Romans 6, four words that are fundamental to sanctification.  So let me remind you: what Paul did was to call you to live life the same way you received Christ.  You received Christ by faith and faith must not be a work (Eph. 2:8-9).  It is the absence of work.  So what Paul said was: you KNOW this, so RECKON it to be true of who you are.  As you laid aside your works to become a Christian, lay aside your works to live as a Christian: YIELD your body to Christ.  Our good works are called “fruit” because they are the work of the Holy Spirit rather than the your work.  In every other system you are called to do some work that will cause God to bless you or give you grace.  In Christ you are called to faith whereby He produces the fruit of righteousness in our bodies.

Col. 2:16-23, The Sufficiency of the Cross Applied (1)

Col. 2:11-15 has made a powerful statement about the sufficiency of the cross of Christ.  Through the cross we have been spiritually circumcised and baptized into Christ.  Believers are complete in Him (Col. 2:10), being graced with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3), having all things pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pt. 1:3). 

One characteristic of Colossians is the repeated use of words like “all” and “none” and “every.”  These are words that have no room for compromise.  Here are some more of these terms. LET NO ONE JUDGE YOU.  LET NO ONE CHEAT YOU. If you weaken these you will be denying all that Christ has done through His cross.  For the honor of Christ, “no one” must mean not any one, at all, ever!

“Let no one judge you” applies to v16-17.  Let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths.  Some might try to limit this to a Jewish influence at Colossae.  Paul’s note in v17, that these are a “shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ,” might lead us to think this way.  After all, OT worship all pointed to Christ.  But on the other hand, find me a religion anywhere that does not have rules for diet and holy days.  Let NO ONE judge you in these matters.  This applies to any religion!

“Let no one cheat you” applies to v18-19.  “Cheat” is an interesting word.  This is the only use of this compound verb in the NT, but the main part of the word is used in Col. 3:15, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”  The “word” experts say it means to “act as an umpire.”  We should let peace call the “balls and strikes” in our lives, but don’t let anyone have that role if it means they are cheating you. 

How do you know if they are cheating you?  First, it again involves “religious activity” such as taking delight in false humility and worship of angels as was happening in Colossae.  But more importantly, if what they are calling you to do “vainly puffs up the fleshly mind.”  This is the nature of “religion.”  It involves a system that makes you proud of yourself.  The classic illustration is the first one.  God was not pleased with Cain’s worship in Gen. 4.  Cain brought the best he had, but God wanted something else, something specific.  Climbing the “ladder of religion” is all about doing the best I can.  Paul even warned Timothy about this in appointing elders in a church: not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil (read about it in Isa. 14:12-15).

But MOST important, this person or practice will be cheating me if it turns me away from the Head, from Christ who is the fullness of God, who is the source of my nourishment and growth in my new life (Col. 2:19).  The “religious” activities, with their false humility, are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.  If my religion takes that away, I am truly being cheated.  And yet, it is happening more and more these days.  And more on that in the coming posts.

Rom. 6:15-23, With Christ in Baptism (4)

We begin with what we know as believers in Christ, things we know because the Bible and especially the gospel say they are true (e.g. Christ died, then was raised to life so that death no more had dominion over Him), and things we have come to know by experience through faith in Christ (we too have been raised from the dead to live a new life).  But then we must stop and think: this is true of me!  I am “in Christ” and this is who I am in Christ!  This is a critical step in the “renewing of the mind.”  We need to think sound doctrinally, but our doctrine is not merely intellectual.  Eternal life is a real life, a new life.  We have been born again.  We are new creations. 

And now we have come to “yield.”  In light of who we are, we are now commanded to present our bodies, and yes, even the various parts of our bodies, to Christ.  In one sense, this is the repetitive act of “faith in Christ” that characterized our faith when we first trusted the Christ of the gospel.  We walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).  As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him (Col. 2:6).  The principle of living the Christian life is no different than the principle of beginning the Christian life.  This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal. 3:2-3). 

We see this in Rom. 6, that the command to present ourselves (6:12-14) is preceded by the “baptism,” our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (6:1-10; cf. Col. 2:12.  We are by NATURE a new creation.  It is real.  We are citizens in a new kingdom (Col. 2:12), one where grace reigns “through righteousness.”  Regardless of how sinful the natural world is around us, we do not live in nor are we ruled by that kingdom.  So it no longer makes sense for us to present our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.  It only makes sense that we would present our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God.  That is why Paul is incredulous at the thought that we should knowingly continue in sin (6:1).  It is also why he says in 12:1 that presenting your bodies to Christ as living sacrifices is “your reasonable service.”  “Service” here is not the bond-slave but religious service.  Heb. 9:1 speaks of the Old Covenant and the Levitical system as, ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.  That is the same word.  In Christ, under the new covenant, we do not have the kinds of service practiced in the OT.  Rather, we present our bodies to Christ and what He produces is the new service.

OBEY.  And note that 6:12-14 on “yielding ourselves to God” leads to righteousness.  Here is one thing to note: in the rest of the chapter there are no commands to “be righteous” or “obey” or “don’t sin.”  The decision was made when you presented yourself to God.  You are the slave of the one to whom you present yourself (v16).  Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (v18).  That constant faith, “presenting” yourself to God, will produce in your life fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life (v22).

Psalm 100

This is one of the more familiar Psalms.  From childhood I remember Psa. 100 in every Thanksgiving service in our church.  We actually met on Thanksgiving Day, at 9:30 AM.  Just enough time to get the turkey in the oven and then off to church to rejoice in the blessing of living in America.  It was a perfect fit being a clear call to the very reason for our gathering: thanksgiving. 

Of course it’s the familiar ones, like Psalm 1 and 23 and 100, etc. that can lose their significance.  We can say them without thinking.  Just like some of our favorite hymns or worship songs.  So slow down today with Psalm 100.

·         It is, in fact, a Psalm for the nations, not just Israel.  Thus it was, and is, appropriate to use in the context of national thanksgiving, wherever we live.

·         It is a call for exuberance.  The items of note in this Psalm, as we will see, call for a joyful shout, gladness and singing.  Singing must be from the heart but by definition it must be audible. 

·         Make a joyful noise about the Creator.  This is the first theme.  The Lord (Heb. YHWH, the God of Israel, as opposed to all other supposed gods) He is God.  You must know this.  Not just knowledge from a book.  Knowledge with perception, knowledge involving a thorough acquaintance with the subject.  God has revealed Himself for this very purpose: that you might know Him!  You see Him in creation.  You see Him in your conscience (in case you didn’t know, a conscience is the Creator’s law written in your heart).  You see Him most clearly in His Son, Jesus Christ, in the pages of the Bible.

·         Once you know He made us, then you also know we are His.  That’s the way it always is: if you made it, it’s yours.  He made us so we are His.  And that’s an amazing thing because He has provided well for us.  We are the sheep of His pasture.  He made the world and put us in it so we would have what we need.

·         The second theme is also about the Lord.  He is good!  The pasture where we reside (i.e. planet earth) is unique in all the universe.  The temperature range is perfect for humans.  So is the tilt and rotation of the earth.  There’s plenty of water in all its forms.  He is a good Creator and Sustainer of all we enjoy.

·         But actually His goodness is better seen in His mercy and faithfulness.  His goodness in creation is amazing.  But His goodness to us, given our sin and rebellion against Him, is indescribably wonderful.  He has been gracious to us by reconciling us to Himself.  In other words He has offered to reestablish us in fellowship with Him.  And He offers this without denying the fact that we deserve to be punished, eternally.  Both His mercy and truth have been satisfied by the fact that He has paid the price Himself for our sin.  He took our punishment on the cross of Christ. 

With all of this in mind, do we really need to be told to make a joyful shout to the Lord?  No, I didn’t think so.  If we will not give thanks and glorify God then, well let’s just say, we have no excuse (Rom. 1:18-21).

Rom. 6:1-14, With Christ in Baptism (3)

How do I live “under grace” rather than under law?  We have four words to consider in Romans 6.

KNOW.  First, this word appears several times.  Don’t you know (v3,16) and knowing (v6,9).  Second, none of these is a command.  None are in the Greek imperative mood.  It is assumed that you know these things, or at least you should know them.  Third, there are two types of knowledge bound up in two different words.  There is “knowledge by experience” in vs. 3 and 6.  Then there is knowledge that you just know to be true, whether it is your experience or not (v9,16). 

You could say, for example, that you know something to be true because the Bible says it is true.  In v6 we know that our “old man” (the person we were from birth until the new birth when we became a “new man”) was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be done away with (spiritual circumcision).  This is about us as believers in Christ.  We are learning this by experience from day to do.  But we first know this because, as Paul explains in v7-10, we see it in Christ.  He died and was then raised.  Death no more had dominion over Him.  That is the gospel, the good news proclaimed in the Bible.  Again, in v16, we know we are slaves to whomever we yield ourselves.  We know this because Jesus taught this (John 8:34).  What this means is that our knowledge begins with the Word of God, and then it becomes personal as we grow in Christ.

Thus, Paul reminds us in 6:1-10 of who we are as believers in Christ.  We have been spiritually baptized, joined with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  Related to the “know” words is the word “believe” in 6:8. We know what we know because we believe God; we take Him at His word.

RECKON.  “Reckon yourselves to be …!”  This, like “know,” is a “mind” or “thought” term.  It means to take what we “know” in v1-10 and consider it to be true of us.  Who we are in Christ must be very personal.  We must embrace it.  We must see this as real and not merely as doctrine. 

Lest we forget, we are taking considerable time to explain Col. 2:9-23, and the sufficiency of the cross.  Verses 9-10 tell us Jesus is the fullness of God, which means that those who have received Christ by faith are themselves complete!  What Paul was trying to get the Colossian believers to do was to “reckon” themselves to be who the Bible says they are, in Christ!  So, yes!  This word is an IMPERATIVE. 

YIELD.  This is the point when our renewed minds change our hearts.  Given who we are in Christ, the only sensible thing to do is to submit to Him, to take these bodies and every part of them (tongue, hands, feet, faces, everything) and give them to Him.  In other words, in light of His grace which has raised us to new life, we give ourselves to Him to use for His will (Rom. 6:12-14; 12:1).  Yes!  This is a command!

Rom. 5:14-21, With Christ in Baptism (2)

From Rom. 6:1-4 at the end of the previous post we see that our baptism “into Christ Jesus” is critical to the new life we live day by day.  Because of this baptism we can see that continuing in sin makes no sense.  Because of this baptism we see that our lives will be different than our old lives. 

Rom. 6:1-14 is explained by four words: know – reckon – yield – obey.  But before we look at those words there is a “big picture” we need to have.  The question is, who reigns or rules in our lives?  Another way to state it is, who is our Lord?  In the end, that is the one we will obey.

There are two “ruling” terms.  First is the one that means to “reign as a king.”  Death ruled as king from Adam to Moses (Rom. 5:11) because of Adam’s sin that was passed down.  By one man’s offense, death reigned (5:17a).  But if that is the case, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (5:17b).  As sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21).  Do you see the “options?”  Rom. 5 tells us as sin and death ruled as king in our lives before we received Christ, it is also possible that Christ in His grace can reign abundantly for those who have received Him by faith.  Thus, in Rom. 6:12, those believers are commanded: do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 

The other “ruling” term is the one that means to “rule as a lord.”  That is certainly similar to “reigning as a king.”  But I am letting you know the different terms because I always believe God’s words are very specific.  In Rom. 6:9 we see that once Christ was raised from the dead, death no longer had “dominion” over Him.  He was subject to death, having become a Man (Heb. 2:9).  But God raised Him from the dead: it was not possible that He should b e held by it (Acts 2:24). 

In Rom. 6:14 we see that we believers in Christ can also be free from the dominion (lordship) of sin, because we are not under law but under grace.  Remember in a previous post how we saw that the law arouses sin because of our sinful passions.  If we seek to live by the law, meaning by our best attempts to keep the law, sin will actually become stronger in us and will be our lord.  But we are free from that dominion when grace reigns in us (again, Rom. 5:21).  This is restated in Rom. 7.  In 7:1, the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.  In 7:4: my brethren (i.e. this is true of Christians), you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.  Living an abundant, fruitful life depends on our living under grace and not the law.  All this leads to the question: how do I live under grace?  The answer is in those four words we gave you at the start of this post.

Col. 2:12; Rom. 8:9-17, With Christ in Baptism (1)

Before we move on from “spiritual circumcision” I want to note something in Colossians.  This work of Christ is “putting off” the body of the flesh.  It does not say “destroying” the body.  The Greek term means just what the English says; it is like putting off clothing.  The verb form is used in v15: “having disarmed” principalities and powers.  He did not destroy them but removed their weapons and armor.  The only other use of this word is in 3:9: Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.  These other uses might help us to understand this work of Christ.  Moses had called on the people to circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer (Dt. 10:16), something they were unable to do and that awaited the day when this work would be done under the New Covenant.

How does this “circumcision without hands” impact our lives as Christians?  We still live in the body.  Rom. 8:10-11 tells us that our bodies are “dead because of sin.”  But “in Christ” we have been given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, in our flesh-and-bone bodies!  While we are “dead” the Holy Spirit “is life because of righteousness.”  When we, by faith, received Christ, we received the One who became “sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  This is our new life, the life of Christ (Gal. 2:20), and we have this life because we have His Spirit (Rom. 8:9).  Listen to God’s amazing promise in 8:11: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  We who were dead in sin (Eph. 1:1) have now come to be alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

So we have died to sin, been buried and raised to new life.  The picture of all this is “baptism.”  Obviously this is where “immersion” or “dipping,” the literal meaning of “baptize,” needs to be visualized.  Again, remember that “circumcision” and “baptism” in Col. 2 are spiritual events.  Spiritually we have been immersed in the Christ of the gospel.  As He died, was buried, and three days later was raised from the dead, so “in Christ” we have been joined with Him.  Immersion or baptism with water depicts this death-burial-resurrection as the new believer is immersed in the water (“buried with Him”) and then brought out of the water (“raised with Him). 

Let me close this post with the clear statements of Rom. 6:1-4, and then, Lord willing, in the next post we will seek to uncover some of its spiritual treasures.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.