Our Death in the Death of Christ (6:1-7)

Commit yourself to God’s standards of holiness. Be open about your sin; confess it, and turn away from it. Get “accountability” with other believers. Get into the Word; read it, memorize it, think about it. Avoid areas where you might fall into temptation. Pray more. Join a small group. Become a member. Get serious.

Time out…Though what I just said might be helpful in the right context, the last thing most of us need is a list of things we need to do to become holy. Personally, it isn’t very encouraging for me to feel that there are 7 steps I need to take in order to grow in holiness; instead, it’s overwhelming.

Now that I think about it, believing that I MYSELF can wash myself off, and become holy by just trying harder…well, it just seems silly to me. I guess I am just too skeptical of my abilities to grow in moral excellence.

A couple hundred years ago, John Wesley formed “the Holy Club” which met every night from 6-9 for Bible study, fasted twice a week, had a searching system of 22 self-examination questions to consider daily, began a prison ministry, made visitations to the sick, began an urban ministry, and gave away all they had each year after providing for their own necessities. The end result of this painstaking effort…was frustration.

Because…the first and crucial step on the long journey toward holiness is not ours to take; it is what God Himself has done to make us holy.

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” –Romans 6:6

What Paul is saying is that somehow, mysteriously, God took the sin nature that indwells each of us and crucified it in Christ as He suffered on the cross, so that when we trusted the gospel message, our old nature truly, not metaphorically, died. It’s as if God said, “You guys are so screwed up, all I can do to make you holy is kill you and start over.”

You may think that’s weird, but if you’re a Christian, you’ve already bought into the idea that your sins were somehow paid for, 2000 years ago, though you weren’t born yet nor had you committed any sins. And I think that’s pretty weird.

Not all Christ-followers understand this. They berate themselves, quoting Jeremiah 17:9 (go ahead; look it up) about how wicked they are, too ashamed of their struggle in holiness to talk openly about it. Poor creatures, believers in a partial salvation- forgiven for sin, but totally ignorant that their “wicked heart” has been “done away with” (6:6). The good news is not just that we have been forgiven in Christ…but that in Christ, we have been killed.

So sit down for a minute; don’t try to figure this all out; just let this truth wash over you; our death in the death of Christ is the first step to holiness, and God accomplished that for us.