DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE IN CHRIST

“For some slaves, the first step out of bondage is to learn to see their lives with new eyes.”-Kevin Bales

            When you think of a slave, what is your initial thought? For many of us students of American History, we think of slaves in the sense of pre-Civil War times, humans bound to an owner or master, and forced to do manual labor or else suffer torturous consequences. Sadly, in this day and age, the definition of a slave has actually escaped us, it is no longer just bondage servants bound to a master, as many of us believe, it is now much more than that. Slave, in today’s terms, is defined as a person who is entirely under the domination of some influence or a person. This now means we can find ourselves slaves to a job, a boss, a girlfriend/boyfriend, a relationship, education, athletics, technology, drugs, alcohol, and many other things. Many of us find ourselves lost in the world when we find ourselves underperforming or without possession of that thing we have become a slave to. Unfortunately, this view has made its way into many churches and faiths across the world, and caused many people to be crippled in their relationship with Christ. Many people view Christianity as a constricting religion drenched in legalism, and one which causes it’s believers to become slaves to God instead of having a genuine relationship with the God they worship. For those who believe Christianity to be a “straightjacket,” as Tim Keller puts it, the Bible gives a clear-cut response to those people, and reveals truly what Christ did and how we should live in response to his sacrifice.

“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” – Romans 7: 4-6

          For all of those who believe that possessing faith in Christ only constricts and limits the things which you can do, Paul plainly states that all of that constricting legalism previously attached with a relationship with God died with Christ’s sacrifice. No longer are believers subject to the law which reigned over them before Christ came, His sacrifice removed all the constriction from our lives and freed us to experience a right relationship with Him. When he was crucified, all of our spirits were released from bondage, our slates were wiped clean, and we were given the opportunity, for the first time, to enter into the presence of God, truly and wholly His. When Christ died, so died the Law and everything under it, including us, but when he rose from the grave, we arose with Him, and were given His Holy Spirit as our guiding light, not the law that previously guided us. How amazing is that? God himself, came down from Heaven, gave his life for us, and through His resurrection freed us from all lawlessness and malice so long as we strive to mold our lives after Him.

“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly… for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”- Hebrews 9: 24-28

            Now what is being told here is this: Christ came to earth as a man, not only to demonstrate how to live a right life, but primarily to die on the Cross for all people, and along with his own life also put to death sin for the sake of those who believe in Him. All of the people out there who believe that due to their sin they are somehow separated from God, Christ himself has put to end that train of though, and made it no longer feasible. Christ literally died on the cross so that the separation that sin previously caused has now been filled by his blood, and He has gone into the presence of God on our behalf and made us clean in the sight of God. There is no greater freedom than the freedom that we have received in Christ, we are no longer held captive by pain, addiction, occupation, relationships, or anything else, as long as we put all of our hope and faith in Christ. Christ has made the only sacrifice that was in need of being made, and he did it so that we could live eternally with Him. We have no reason to hang onto anything that this world can offer to us, everything must be offered up to Him due to his sacrifice for us. His only request of us is that we let go of ourselves, give our lives to the will of Him and his Spirit, and constantly mold ourselves in genuine faith in Him. He says that if we adjust our life’s perspective to that which is Christ-centered, He will return for us on day, in eternal glory, and the things of this world will be but an after-thought to us.

            So for all of you that are holding on to things that you believe will give you eternal happiness on this earth, which we all do, I challenge you to let go of them. Remind yourself constantly that Christ died so you would not be held in bondage to anything on earth, and that you would experience ultimate freedom through Him without any Law to live by. In a true relationship with Christ you know what it is to truly live, you have no guilt or shame, you are able to experience true goodness through Him. Obviously no one will lead a perfect life, even Paul made mistakes (Romans 7), but if you are actively seeking a true relationship with Christ, you will experience a freedom from sin that you never had before.

             Christ died for you, to abolish the law that was previously in place, and create a new God-centered order that we all must live by. Experience the freedom offered from him, no longer live in slavery to your sin. Live boldly, love strongly, and constantly mold yourself to God and his will. Nothing will give you more freedom than that.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey