A shallow understanding of Grace

Romans 6:1-4

Do you recall how chapter 5 ends, it tells us that the Law exposes sin, and so when one has the Law sin increases, but the good news is grace abounds all the more.  Sin brings about death, but grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So as we begin looking at chapter 6 we must deal with the question that is asked: “What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 

I believe many of us have a shallow understanding of the grace of God; the act of grace that happens when you bow your knee to our Lord Jesus Christ by faith and enter into a personal relationship with Him is beyond my understanding.  But this I know, that moment in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, when I asked Jesus  into my life, something died, for I was crucified with Christ and He broke the hold of sin and death in my life.  At that moment I had the authority to choose not to sin for the power of Jesus Christ now lives in me.

Now that is not to say you and I are not abusers of the Divine grace, for we were set free by God’s grace, and yet it is written, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”  (Galatians 5:13-15)  It is also recorded in 1Peter 16, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

How often the flesh is referred to it as the old man, I’m not buying into that, I do not have and old man and a new man living in me, but I do have flesh, and it is written in Galatians 5:16-17, ^“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”  “Old man” may be used as a synonym for “flesh”, but there is a problem with that, when we came into Christ something got crucified, and it is my belief it was sin personified as the “old man.”

So each of us, yes, your pastor, or priest has the same war ongoing in them, the flesh wants to be religious but it has no desire to live under the authority of God.  With that back drop, I’ve learned that my flesh and my emotions will often lead me on a path that desires evil, it has a desire to be first, to want to look better than both myself and God know to be true.  It causes me to grumble when things are not to my liking and often I’m clueless about having a spirit of rebellion until the Holy Spirit brings it to my understanding through Scripture or preaching and teaching.  So once more it is written, “Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

These things we should grasp about faith, it is freely given, it empowers us to serve God and others, it gives us the ability to live a simple life, it also gives us the ability to live in humility toward one another, for it is written, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5b) 

I almost forgot to let the apostle Paul answer the question asked in the first verse; “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  (Romans 6:2-4 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice