Read Vs 6*. "knowing
this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might
be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;"
This means learning what the Bible
teaches about our new identity, and regularly remembering/reflecting
on it (2 Pet. 1:12,13,15).
Explain the terminology (refer to
footnote in student notes instead of covering in class)
"Your old self was crucified
with Christ . . . " Our old identity (in Adam) has been completely
obliterated; it no longer exists. See also Jn. 3:3,5; Col. 3:3; 2 Cor.
5:17.
" . . . so that your body
of sin may be done away with . . . " "Body of sin" refers
not to your old identity, but to your sin-nature. "Done away
with" (katargeo) can mean this, but other passages clearly
teach that Christians still have a sin-nature (ROM 7:17). It should therefore
be translated here "made powerless" (NASB margin) or (better)
"put out of authority" (see ROM 7:2 - " . . . she is released
from the law . . . "
Summary: Our old identity has
been destroyed, so that our sin nature has been put out of authority
over us.
" . . . so that you may no
longer be slaves of sin." This is the desired behavioral result.
God has struck at the root of the problem rather than leaving us to deal
with it by our own willpower.
Illustration: The Emancipation Proclamation
became law of the land on Dec. 18, 1865. The legal identity of all slaves
instantly changed. Their old identity as property/slaves was "killed."
They received a new legal identity as citizens. Why was this important?
Because this changed their relationship to their previous owners. Their
previous owners continued to exist, but their authority over them was now
removed, so that they were no longer legally obliged to live as slaves.
How important was this knowledge?
Do you know that thousands of them continued to live out their lives as
slaves because their ex-masters successfully kept this information from
them?
Many Christians (perhaps you) assume
that though they are forgiven for their sins, there is no basis for deep-seated
change in their lives. If we don't know that we have been freed from the
authority of our sin-nature, we will try to sanctify ourselves by the flesh,
leading either to self-righteous self-deception, or fatalistic honesty about
our sins.
Therefore, we need to study this
truth until we understand it, ask God to illuminate it so we see its significance
in our lives, meditate on it, remind ourselves of it, etc. Read and reread
books about it. Remember Romans 12:2- "...transformed by the renewing
of your minds."
We must also ground young Christians
in this truth as soon as possible so that they can begin to challenge
their view of their identity and replace it with God's. This needs
to be a key and ongoing aspect to our discipling relationships. We also
need to pray that God will give us his view on the people around us.
Read ROM 6:11* Even
so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Choosing to affirm what God says
about your identity in spite of all the contrary feelings, thoughts, past
behavioral evidence, other people, etc. say about you, in the specific identity
area that fuels the expressed sin.
EG. "I feel unappreciated."
But God's view would contradict this feeling. Which are you going to choose
to believe? What your feelings are telling you or what you "know"
is true?
The word here (logizomai)
is an accounting term—often refers to making an accurate ledger entry.
You enter an amount into the ledger because it has been deposited, not
that you enter the amount so that it will be deposited (contra CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE & POSTMODERNISM: my beliefs don't create reality; they should
conform to reality).
Illustration: Let's assume that you
have never had more than $150 in your checking account. Suddenly, a trusted
friend informs you that he has deposited $100,000 into your account. You
check with the bank and ascertain that this is indeed the case. How important
is it that you enter that amount in your check ledger, and believe that
entry? What if you listened instead to your feelings or your family members
who keep telling you that you only have $150? If you want to reap the benefit
of the $100,000, you have to choose to believe the actual amount! Otherwise,
you could go on living as though you were poor!
This means monitoring our thought-lives,
becoming aware of lies about ourselves as they present themselves to us—and
choosing to replace those lies with what God says is true about us (2 Cor.
10:5). We should ask the Lord to sensitize us to these lies, and help us
to see how our new identity applies to us in specific areas. THIS IS THE
MISSING STEP FOR MANY CHRISTIANS! Often we need other mature Christians
to help us discern what these lies may be.
(D. M. Lloyd-Jones) ".
. .we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to
us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in
this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we
allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just
trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence
of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness
in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead
of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment
you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start
talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody
is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this
man's treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him,
he starts talking to himself. 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' he
asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up
and says: 'Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you'. Do you know
what I mean? If you do not, you have had but little experience.
The main art in the matter of spiritual
living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in
hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.
You must say to your soul: 'Why are you cast down'—what business
have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself,
condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself; 'Hope you in God'—instead
of muttering in this depressed unhappy way. And then you must go on to
remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done
and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on
this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil
and the whole world, and say with this man: 'I shall yet praise Him for
the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance
and my God'. (D. M.
Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure [Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982], pp. 20,21.)
This is contrary to what many Christians
suffer from: either mental passivity (not challenging their thoughts) or
the therapeutic view of feelings (validating our feelings). Which
do you tend toward? The therapeutic view of feelings would insist that actions
proceeding from feelings are excusable (no matter how sinful), and therefore
the route to better actions is our bad feelings being corrected—often
we falsely believe this correction is the responsibility of others to cause.
People cannot see how you monitor
your thought life, but this is at the heart of long-lasting change in the
Christian's life. People will see the behavioral and attitudinal changes
occur as you progress in your attention to your thoughts.
Emancipation Proclamation: How important
was it for those ex-slaves who knew about the Emancipation Proclamation
to choose to "consider" that they actually were free citizens?
How difficult was it for them to choose to "consider" this—especially
when their own thoughts and feelings, their ex-owners, said "You're
nothing but a slave. You always have been a slave, and you always will be
a slave."
Here is an even greater tragedy
than the suppression of the news: thousands of ex-slaves knew about the
Emancipation Proclamation, yet still lived out the rest of their lives
because they didn't choose to believe what was true of them and instead
chose to go on believing what their ex-owners and own conditioning told
them.
How important is it for you as a
Christian to choose to believe that you are no longer a slave to sin? How
many of us continue to live as slaves, not because we don't know this truth,
but because we don't choose against our feelings and previous experience
to believe it? If we passively respond, our "knowing" will not
profit us.
This is why every day, we should
consciously recall and remind ourselves of what is true about us in this
area: "I am free from sin's authority and therefore able to change."
This is why especially when we
are confronted by evidence to the contrary through failure, accusation,
etc., it is so important to choose to reject that conclusion and instead
agree with God that "he has set me free from sin's authority and
that his power is progressively changing my life as I continue to believe
what he says and cooperate with him."
It is also essential, when helping
Christians who are struggling in a sin area, to help them consider how
their new identity specifically applies to the area and what lies about
their identity they were believing. Not counseling in this manner
will lead to a legalistic approach to their change.
Read ROM 6: 13* and
do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
(Note: "Walking in Victory"
does not differentiate between "consider" and "present"
to the extent we will in the notes that follow.)
This means choosing to step out in
faith and act in ways that are consistent with your new identity. This is
the step that makes what we have learned "living truth."
Emancipation Proclamation: Who were
the ex-slaves who actually experienced a life of increasing freedom? They
were the ones who knew about the Emancipation Proclamation, who chose to
consider it to be true in spite of the contrary input of their ex-masters,
their memories, etc.—and what else? Who actually began to refuse the
orders of their ex-masters and instead walked off the "security"
of the plantations and put themselves in places where the power of the government
supported their freedom (MOVED TO NORTHERN CITIES; FOUND PAYING EMPLOYERS).
It was this scary risk, based on the previous two steps, that resulted in
increasing experiential freedom for them.
Who are the Christians who experience
a life of increasing freedom from slavery to sin?
The ones who know Vs 6,
then consider it to be the truth about them in spite of what their
sin-natures, Satan, previous experiences and others tell them—and
finally, who on that basis choose not to submit to moral defeat in their
lives and instead present themselves to God in ways that allow
his power to change their lives.
Other Examples:
You are angry with a person for
not paying enough attention to you. The fact is that they ARE being unloving
and insensitive. At a teaching, you learn (Know) that God will
meet all of your love needs and that we should therefore not look to other
people to do this. Realizing that this is what you have been doing, you
choose to affirm that God will provide for you in this area (Consider).
Now what would it look like to present ourselves based on this
identity truth? (choose not to lash out or punish with silence, etc.;
instead choose to freely give to that person in some way; address their
insensitivity for their good).
You are depressed and resentful
because of how much more gifted in a certain area your friend is than
you are. As you study 1 Cor. 12, you realize that God has gifted you to
play a unique role in his Body (Know). You agree that the difference
between you and your friend in gifted areas is part of God's design rather
than you getting the short end of the stick (Consider). Now what
would it look like to Present ourselves on this identity truth?
(thank God for your friend's contribution; compliment, encourage, and
promote your friend's accomplishments in that area; thank God for what
he has shown that you can do for him, and look for opportunities to serve
in that area).
"Presenting" usually involves
both a negative and positive step.
It is necessary to choose to turn
away from immoral habits (Vs 13a: "do not go on presenting yourselves
to sin . . . ")
It is also necessary to turn
to God in ways that expose you to his alternative (Vs 13b: "
. . . but present yourselves to God . . . "). Real change involves
the willingness to say "No!" (e.g., STAYING OUT OF SEXUALLY
TEMPTING SITUATIONS)—but this is ultimately futile unless we also
say "Yes!" to the ways that expose us to God's life-changing
power. This is the "Resist-Replace" principle.
EXAMPLES:
Sensuality: practically avoiding
tempting situations (Resist) + developing Christ-centered love relationships
(Replace)—see 1 Thess. 4:3-10; 2 Tim. 2:22
