Day 3: Col. 3:1-4 Timeline: PAST
Yes, you died… but you have been raised with Christ!
Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV84):
1″Since, then, YOU HAVE BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2″Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3″For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4″When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
On Day 1, we sorted out the actions of Col. 3:1-4 into PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.
On Day 2, we focused in on the first event in the PAST on our timeline, “You died.”
Today, we’re on to the second (and more uplifting!) event in the PAST, “YOU HAVE BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST.”
Let’s pick back up where we left off–
Romans 6:5 (NIV84):
5″If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.”
United w/ Christ in death => United w/ Him in resurrection
Yesterday we skipped around in Romans 6 looking for death.
Today let’s read Romans 6:2-11 in it’s entirety, with an eye out for life:
2″…We died to sin; how can we LIVE in it any longer?
3″Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4″We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ WAS RAISED from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too MAY LIVE A NEW LIFE.
5″If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be UNITED WITH HIM IN HIS RESURRECTION.
6″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–
7″because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8″Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we WILL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM.
9″For we know that since Christ WAS RAISED from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.
10″The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the LIFE HE LIVES, HE LIVES TO GOD.
11″In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.”
We are instructed to count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus!
How does this play out in our daily lives?
I like the way The Message puts it:
“That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time — remember, you’ve been raised from the dead! — into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God,” (Romans 6:12-14).
We died to sin. We were raised to a new life free from slavery to sin. Or, as I tell my seven year old, sin is no longer our boss.
But we have to be intentional with this new life. Complacency leads to us getting bossed around by sin again. Verses 11-14 are all about intentionality.
Romans 6:11-14 (NIV84):
11″In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12″Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
13″Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.
14″For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
The emphasized words above are Paul’s commands to believers. We have to take action to live this new life in Christ under grace!
Let’s return to The Message one more time:
“So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, One whose commands set you free to live openly in His freedom!” (Romans 6:15-18).
As I close today’s post, I invite you to pray with me a prayer of intentionality, a prayer in which we offer the parts of ourselves to God. Tomorrow we will wrap up our first week with the apostle Paul’s Gospel in I Corinthians 15.
Day 3 PRAYER
Father God,
I offer myself to You today.
Help me keep my eyes focused on Jesus. May I look for You in everything.
May my ears be tuned to Your voice so that I may not miss anything You have to say.
May my hands & feet be busy serving You rather than sin & self.
“Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips,” (Psalm 141:3). “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer,” (Psalm 19:14).
When my emotions rise up, remind me to take them to You & put them to the test of Your Word.
Lord, may my mind be preoccupied with You today. I want to choose Your will over my own, over anyone else’s.
I love You & thank You.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
