I had planned on moving into verse 12, but God really laid on my heart to dig a little deeper into verse 11, so that's where we will be for this post!
In verse 11, Paul transitioned from what has happened in us to how we are to respond as God's children. He introduced this transition with the phrase: "so you also must consider..." This is not an option, but a command. What is it that we are commanded to do? So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Two questions that might come to mind:
Question 1: Why are we commanded to do this? Because we are joined with Christ as one (as Paul explained in the previous verses), we have been brought into a holy communion with God, who lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Just think, anything we do, anything we see, anything we partake of...God is right there with us...are there things we do that we would rather God not see? Are there things we do that we know God would not partake of? We are forever justified by the righteousness of our Savior, but that doesn't mean God doesn't see our sinful thoughts and actions...He is right there with us, in us, all day everyday...are we showing Him how much we love Him by how we think and act daily?
Never forget the fact that every sin we have committed, are committing, and will commit, is the reason God crushed His Son physically. These sins are the reason God looked at His perfect Son as an ugly curse on a tree, completely separating Himself from His Son spiritually. Never forget the absolute pain and agony Christ suffered in the midst of that physical brutality and spiritual emptiness, on our behalf, for our sinfulness.
Question 2: So, just how dead to sin are we supposed to be, and how alive to God? I think this is easiest understood this way...since the reason we are supposed consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is because we are joined together with Christ, who showed us what dying to sin and being alive to God was all about, we ought to look to Him for the answer. As we go about our daily lives, we ought to ask ourselves continually, is this something Christ would find acceptable? Is what I'm thinking or doing showing that I am joined with Christ, that the holy God who has no sin lives in me? Are my thoughts and actions driven by who God is or by self satisfaction and pride?
We are called to be completely dead to sin, so that we can be completely alive to God. Any sin we haven't let go of hinders our new life, our new relationship with God. By God's grace and mercy, perfect joy and peace have been made available to us, why do we continue to hold on to things that keep us from experiencing these blessings?
I think one of the biggest dangers for any child of God is the deception of perceiving God's view of sin as nonchalant. This plays out in so many ways, and can be so hard to see in our lives, but I know we are all guilty of it. It's so easy to justify our sinful actions with excuses like these:
- God wouldn't really consider that a sin
- God still loves us no matter what
- Even Jesus hung out with sinners
- God's grace is bigger than my sins
- I'm saved no matter what
There are obviously many other ways we could word these, and many other excuses like them. However, none of these excuses hold any weight...God's view of sin is absolutely not nonchalant, He views sin as sin, in Him there is no darkness - the biggest sinful action and the slightest sinful thought are both black, ugly stains - unacceptable to a God who is perfectly white and stainless.
Don't forget that Adam and Eve did not fall because they physically murdered someone, or because they committed adultery on each other, but because they disobeyed God...the same God that has commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul...the same God that has commanded us to love our neighbor as our self, to put others before our self...the same God who has commanded us to die to sin and live for Him...have we disobeyed any of these commands?
To sin is to miss the mark, to not live up to the standard set before us (Jesus Christ) - we all do this daily...I don't say this to get us down on ourselves, but to create an awareness, so that we can be responding the way Paul is commanding us to...consider yourselves dead to sin...sin cannot control us or condemn us, Christ has set us free and given us the power to say no to sin - this is a lifelong process as God continues to reveal areas of sin in our lives, but it is possible to continually be moving away from sin and towards God!
I think its important for all of us to spend time pondering our heart...are we living in a way that shows we are dead to sin and living for God? If not, its absolutely crucial that we implore God to address our heart, to make us hungry for Him, so hungry that it changes the way we live!
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