Position and Practice

Romans 6:1-11

I want to start this sermon today by getting you to picture something in your minds. . .

Think of a child with a box of matches. . . he discovers that when he can light things on fire with these matches and he gets to see the flames grow and grow as the fire begins to build. . . However a parent comes along behind throws a bit of water over the fire and it is put out. . .

The next time the child gets a hold of a box of matches, he remembers that he can set things on fire and the consequences are minimal. Someone will come and put the fire out, and no real harm will be done. . .

The more things the child sets on fire, the more destruction he causes, however he can only see the flames that are in front of him and pays no attention to the amount of destruction that he is causing throughout the house.

With every fire, comes more water to extinguish the flame, until one day, the fire begins to rage out of control. It can no longer be contained by a little bit of water, and the entire house goes up in flames. . .

As the boy stands back and watches his home burn down right in front of  him he looks at the set of matches and can't believe how such a small match could make such a big fire. . .

The reason i wanted you to think of that scenario today is because I hope by the end of it there you maybe where beginning realise that you were the child holding the matches. . .

You see if we unpack our reading in Romans today we can see what the significance of this story is and what it means in our lives. . .

Starting at verse one we see Paul being faced with a question here. . . "what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound"?. . .

This is like the child lighting the match. setting small fires, he knows that someone will come along and sort it out before something really bad happens. The child here is thinking, if i don't start the fire, no one will come and put it out. . .

that's the logic that we see the Jewish leader here use when they ask that question of Paul in verse 1. If we keep on sinning, does that mean that God's grace will just increase, blot out my transgressions, and we simply move on.

Paul responds in verse 2, he says "By no means! How can we who have died to sin, still live in it"?. . .

You see sin is just like fire. It might not cause any real damage right away. We think we can get away with this or with that, until one day, our sin becomes too big to handle. It overcomes us and before we know it we are standing outside the house, watching it burn down, wondering how such a small thing could make such a big mess.

God's grace is sufficient to deal with any sin that we may have committed but you see when we don't turn away from that sin, it begins to control us and it gets out of hand before we even realise there is a problem.

Paul said at the end of verse 2 we have died to sin, therefore how can we still live in it?

When Jesus died on the cross we read all throughout the new testament that He conquered sin and death and it no longer has dominion over us.

This means that we can no longer play the ignorance card, we know that Christ has dominion over our lives and that sin has lost its power when Jesus rose from the dead. That means that sin is a choice. . . if we know our Bibles, if we believe that Christ has forgiven us for our sins, then we can't use the excuse that we "didn't know" anymore. . .

Once the child lit the first fire, he knew what would happen if lit the next and the next. It was a choice. Just like we have a choice to either walk in sin or to choose to repent and walk a different way.

This is why Paul goes on to write in verse 3 "Do you not know that those of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus where baptised into His death?"

Baptism is a outward sign of an inward transformation. When we choose Christ, we choose to die to our previous lives and live a new life as a new creation with Jesus.

It might help us understand this a bit better if we look at it like this. . .

As believers of Christ we have a position and a practice. . .

Our position is where we stand with Christ. . . As the Bible says in Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

We are citizens and heirs of God's kingdom.

Our practice however is what we say and do every day of our lives. . .

Grace puts us in the position, then teaches us to walk worthy of it. Our position is absolutely perfect because we are in Christ.

Our practice should increasingly respond to our position. It will never fully correspond to our position until the lord's return, but we should be becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ in the meantime.

As believers, we should walk worthy of the calling we have received as it says in Ephesians 4:1. So if that life is a citizen of the kingdom, then we must live that life not as a citizen of the world.

How many of you know the song by Jim Reeves, "this world is not my home"?

The first verse says. . .

This world is not my home I'm just passing through

my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Unfortunately i'm not going to sing it for you today. . . maybe another time. . . lol, but these lyrics are so true. We weren't made for this world. We were made to be with God, walking in the cool of the day, hearing His voice, walking side by side in constant communion.

You see, verse 4 of our reading in romans tell us this when Paul wrote that we too may be raised from the dead just as Christ was that we may walk in newness of life. . .

When humanity fell in the garden, sin made us as though we were dead. Later on in Romans chapter 6 it goes on to tell us this when Paul writes

"for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our lord".

That is why sin can no longer be our master. That is why we can no longer choose to walk in sin. In Mathew 26:4, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve 2 masters. He's talking here about the love of money and serving God, but that goes for all areas of sin, whether that be the love of money, sexual immorality, lust of the flesh, greed. . . We must make a choice between these things daily.

Lamentations 3:22-23 says

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

We need the Lord's mercies to be new every morning, because every day we are faced with the trials and temptations of this earth that aim to keep us bound by sin.

Paul knew this when he was writing his letters to the churches. 1 Corinthians 15 talks about it, 2 Corinthians 5, and Romans 6 here too. That's why he writes these encouragements that we may know our position in Christ and work to live a life that matches that position.

We need to be reading these verses in the Bible that affirm our faith. That tell us our identity in Christ. Because when we learn what our identity is, then we walk in the confidence of Christ who has made us Kings, and priests, Citizens of His Kingdom, and sons and Daughters.

Do you honestly think that people from northern Ireland where the first ones to say "do you know who my da is"? lol

Joking aside though, there is power and authority that comes from knowing who we are in Christ!

We can walk in the knowledge that we are citizens of a Kingdom that has no end, where there is no sickness or pain or sorrow as it says in Revelation 21. We can walk in the authority that Christ has given us. No longer bowing down to sin but standing firm in our faith that Christ has overcome the powers and principalities through His death and resurrection on the cross. And as we talked about over the last 6 weeks we can walk in the power of the Holy Spirit who gives us that boldness, strength, confidence, and encouragement to walk as Children of God.

We aren't to walk around saying "woe is me, a miserable sinner". . . we need to stand tall and proclaim the goodness of God in our lives. We are to show the world a different picture. . .

That, no longer do we need to be slaves of sin and shame, but through Christ we can stand in the power of His resurrection and proclaim Him as King over our lives.

Let's just picture what that might look like for a moment. It would look like people sharing their faith in streets, where prayer would be our first response when hear someone is going through a difficult time, where we would see people come to faith because we where living out ours. . .

You see we can have these big churches that are well attended and bursting at the seams with standing room only. . . but if that isn't impacting the community that are outside the walls of the church, then there is something wrong. . . If lives aren't being changed and transformed outside of the church walls, then it doesn't matter how many pews we have filled. If we aren't supporting each other, and walking alongside each other, then we aren't living a life that is worthy of the calling we have received.

That calling is love one another, support one another. To serve the church, to serve the community and to glorify God in everything we do. To invite people to come along and join in with what's happening here. That is what it means to live a transformed life. This is what it means to have our practice match our position.

John Wimber, an American pastor who started the vineyard movement is famous for this quote. . . Everyone gets to play.

What he means by that is that Church is for everyone, everyone should feel at home where, and that we have a duty to bring everyone into that fellowship and community that supports each other and helps each other without anyone getting left out. That no one would be left on the bench or left behind but that everyone would get a chance to be a part of something that God is doing in our church.

And I want to extend that to all of us here today. Invite people to be a part of what's going on here. Bring them into our community and let us be a community that people want to be a part of. Let us show people that this place is full of love and support and encouragement for each other. And most importantly let them see that the Spirit of God is moving in our church.

Whether they go to church or not, your invite could be the sign they have been waiting for from God to make a move in their lives. I'm not talking about sheep stealing or anything like that, but what I am saying is that God brings the increase, all Paul and Apolos had to do is plant and water. So can I ecourage you today to plant and water. . . Can I encourage you to Walk in the goodness of God. Make that decision each and every day to die to self and live as Christ.

Walk in his ways, learn his ways, and let your practice match your position. And can I encourage you to walk together! We weren't created to walk this world alone. We were created for fellowship and relationship. That is God's heart for the church that we might do this journey together. . .

Let us walk beside one another and encourage one another in our faith. Come to our Bible studies, our mid week services and events. These are the places where we get the chance to encourage each other outside of the Sunday service. This is where we get to do life together. Let's meet up for coffee, let's support one another in prayer and fellowship. Because when we walk this road together, we help each other live the lives that Christ has called us to live.

Let us pray. . .

Heavenly father we thank you for your mercies are new every day.

Help us to keep walking with you and to live a resurrected life in your fulness and grace.

Lord strengthen your church and let us walk this road together as we proclaim your kingdom until the return of your Son Jesus Christ.

Amen.