Romans: Living A New Life

Good morning. If anyone doesn't know me, my name is Eric. I'm the youth guy here at Watermark.

I love working here. I love being a part of this church family, and I'm very excited to get to

share with you guys from God's Word today. If you noticed, we're in Romans 6 today, which means

we're jumping in into the middle of a letter that we've been going through for a couple months,

and I thought, based on the context, it could be helpful to do a little recap of where we've been

so far so that we can see how this fits into the whole. So Romans is written by this guy named Paul

to the church that was at Rome, and he starts out the letter by telling a story of two different types

of people, and really he says each one of us is one or the other of these two types of people.

There's one type of person who goes out there. He says, forget about God. I don't need him. I don't

believe that he's even real. I'm going to do what I want. I'm going to live how I want, and I'm going

to find my salvation through being a liberated person. That's one type of person. The other type

of person says, I believe that there is a God, and here is the list of rules that God has given us to

follow, and I'm going to follow those rules so perfectly that God cannot help but accept me

because I am such a good person. So we've got this person who tries to find liberation from God,

and this person who tries to obediently earn God's favor, and Paul paints pictures of these two people,

and he says, regardless of which one you are, because every one of us is one or the other,

or some combo of the two. He says, everyone has fallen short. He says, God has a standard,

and no matter how hard we try, we can't reach that standard, and we all have a problem.

Every single one of us. No matter how hard we try, no matter how obedient we are, we've fallen short

of God's standard, and because of that, he says, we're under God's wrath, not a good place to be.

But he says, there's a solution to this problem that God has given us himself. He came to the earth

as a man, as Jesus. He came and lived this perfect life that none of us could live. He died a death

that we deserve, but that he didn't, and he traded places with us. He took his perfection, and he offers

it to us. He offers us what Paul calls the righteousness of God. Paul says, because we were

messed up, we had broken our relationship with God, and in a legal sense, we were guilty before God,

and deserving of a punishment. And he says, through Jesus, we're able to have a new right relationship

with God, and a new right legal status before God. A word that he sort of combines those ideas

in one word, righteousness. And he says, this righteousness isn't something we earn by trying

harder, and being better, and doing more. It's a gift that's offered to us by Jesus because of what

he's done. And this letter is written to Christians, so he's operating off the assumption that once you

get that, you're moving forward. Now, if you've trusted in this, you're living life as a Christian.

But what does it mean to live life as a Christian? And so he starts to get into examples from the past

of people who lived lives trusting in God. He talks about Abraham, and how Abraham had this faith, and

how it was Abraham's faith that saved him, this trust in God that saved him, not the obedience that he had.

And he starts explaining how amazing it is to live life as a Christian. And he gets to the end of Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, and he has this sentence that he says. He says about God's grace. He says, where our sin

increased, God's grace abounded all the more. The more sin that we had, the more God forgives us.

And he's saying, it's so amazing, God, so incredible, that it's not about us. It's not about what we've done.

It's about what Jesus has done. And what Jesus has done is so powerful, so amazing, that it's not

just like, oh, you're good, we'll forgive a little bit. You're not so good, we'll forgive a little bit,

and you can earn the rest. No, he says, the more sin we have, the more God forgives us, the more

amazing that forgiveness is. And when we get to the passage where we are today, he says, now I know

some of you are thinking something based on what I just said. And I need to correct a potential

misunderstanding before we move forward. And that potential misunderstanding is, people look at this,

and they say, hmm, the more I sin, the more God forgives. The more I sin, the more God gets to

show off his grace. So I should just sin as much as possible so that God can forgive me and show off

how amazing he is for forgiving me. And Paul is going to, in today's passage, address this wrong idea

and show us that the fact that we've been forgiven, if that's true of us, means that we should be living

radically transformed lives today. So let's jump into Romans chapter 6. The first thing I want us to see

Romans 6 · chapter mention

is that the fact that we've been forgiven by God is not a license for us to sin just so we can get

forgiven. He starts out in Romans chapter 6. He says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin

Romans 6 · chapter mention

that grace may abound? Basically, the more we sin, the more God forgives. So let's just keep sinning.

Let's rack up this list of things that God can forgive. And then God gets to show how amazing he is

by forgiving it all. And it's this perfect, convenient solution because God gets to show off how amazing

he is. I get to live the life that I want. Everyone wins, right? Paul says, no, not at all.

He says, when Jesus forgives us, yes, he forgives us from our guilt for our sin, but he says something

bigger, something deeper is taking place there. He says, throughout our lives, we're born and we live

as slaves to sin. It traps us. It holds us under its power. We might think we're free, but really we're not.

We have to follow it. And he says, when Jesus comes in, when Jesus forgives us,

it transforms everything. It's not just that we're forgiven for the guilt of our sins, but we're

freed from its power over us. There's a transformation that takes place. And he says, this transformation

is so great that if we view this forgiveness we get from Jesus as a license to sin as much as we

want and stack up that list of things for God to forgive, it either means that we haven't really

understood this transformation that took place in us, or we're lying to ourselves about the fact

that the transformation has taken place. I'll say that again. He says, if we see our forgiveness as a

license to sin, as an excuse to just stack up a list of things that we can do wrong so that God can

forgive us even more, either we don't understand the change that has happened inside of us,

or we're lying to ourselves saying that we've been changed.

He says, we have a new nature. We've been changed.

There's a commentator. He said, sin forgiven is hated. Sin unforgiven is cherished. And that's exactly

what Paul is showing us here. That if we've been forgiven for our sin, we see how it's trapped us

before. We see the price that Jesus had to pay to forgive us. We see the hurt and the heartache and

the brokenness that comes into our world because of our sin. And we hate it.

When we've been forgiven for that, we can't hold on to it anymore. We can't long for it and cherish it.

If we still long for sin to be our primary mode of operation after we've been forgiven,

he's saying it's a good reason to question whether you've actually been forgiven. Because there's a

change in our nature. The thing that used to give us power, the thing that used to sustain us,

it can't sustain us anymore. I think a good picture is a baby. You have a mom, she's pregnant.

The baby's hooked up to the umbilical cord. The baby's getting all the nutrients from the mom.

And then the mom gives birth. And there's a change in that baby's nature.

It goes from unborn baby to born baby. And in that change in nature, there's a way,

a change in the way that it gets its nutrients. Now, instead of being hooked up to the umbilical cord,

it breathes on its own. And it eats and drinks on its own. Yeah, it still needs the mother to sustain

it, giving it milk and stuff. But it can't get that sustenance from the umbilical cord anymore

because it's been a change in its nature. And if this baby, after being born, tries to hold on to

getting all of its nutrients through the umbilical cord, it's going to die.

Because the umbilical cord can't sustain a real live baby. He's saying the same way,

in our old life, we were slaves to sin. We were hooked up to sin. We got all of our power

from sin in our lives. Whether that's pride, thinking of ourselves very highly. Whether that's

ambition and just becoming the best that we can be. Whether that's greed, stockpiling as much as

we can. He says these are the things we hooked up to to get our power. But when we become Christians,

if we become Christians, that changes our nature. That changes the source of where we get our power.

And if we try and hook up to the old source that we got our power from, that sustained us

after we become Christians, we're going to starve ourselves to death spiritually.

So he says we have to live this radically different life because of this change in our nature that's

happened. It's not just that we shouldn't think this way. Not just that we shouldn't use our

forgiveness as an excuse to sin. But he says because of the change in our nature, if we've authentically

been changed, our new nature is such that we can't use our forgiveness as an excuse to continue in sin.

Because we've been changed. Because the things that we think can sustain us from our old life

can't sustain us in our new nature, in our new life anymore.

The second thing I want us to see today is that a transformation, this transformation that's happened,

means that we're now alive to Christ and dead to sin. That's the change that's happened in our lives

if we are Christians. That we're alive to Christ and we're dead to sin. And Paul is giving us

an action plan for living as Christians. So if we want to understand this action plan for living as

Christians, we have to understand this fact. We're alive to Christ, we're dead to sin.

And what this word alive to Christ, dead to sin, it's not just that when we become Christians,

everything inside of us from before magically disappears and the slate is totally different.

We don't have any experiences from life to grow on anymore. It's more of a picture of a regime change.

We're living life under a different regime. I think a good picture of this is found in the NBA.

Okay. Anyone follow the NBA? A couple people? Anyone heard of LeBron James? A handful more people? Yeah?

So in 2003, there was this high school kid named LeBron James. He was an amazing basketball player.

Everyone looked at him and they said, this kid has potential to be the next Michael Jordan.

And the draft was coming and hype and hysteria was everywhere about this kid, LeBron James.

And the first pick in the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers draft LeBron James to be on their team.

And he comes and he tears it up. He spent seven seasons playing with the Cavs.

He's setting levels of statistics that are unheard of.

And after seven years with the team, he gets frustrated because the team hasn't been surrounding him with other good players.

And his contract ends. And he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2010.

He goes out on the free agent market and he decides to sign with a team called the Miami Heat.

Because he has friends who play on the Heat who are really good basketball players.

And he says, if I go play with the Heat, I can play with my friends.

And I think we have a much better chance of winning the championship than I ever had in Cleveland.

So he changes regimes.

He goes from being alive to the Cavs, dead to the Heat, to being dead to the Cavs, alive to the Heat.

Now here's the thing.

The Cavs, that fall, let's play out this hypothetical scenario in our minds.

The Cavs coach calls up LeBron and says, hey, why aren't you at training camp right now?

Training camp started. You're supposed to be here.

Now LeBron has a couple options of what he can do right now.

He can say, you're right. I should be at training camp right now.

I need to come and listen to you.

And he could pack up his bags, fly over to Cavs training camp,

and spend time with the Cavs practicing, working out, training with the team.

But we all know that would be stupid of him to do.

Because his identity has been changed. He's under a new regime.

If he goes and he listens to the Cavs coach, he's listening to someone who actually has no more real control over him.

If he goes and listens to the Cavs coach, he reinforces this idea that what's no longer true of him is still true of him.

And if he listens to the Cavs coach, he's missing out on an opportunity to live life in his new identity by going to the Heat training camp.

He has the option still to listen to his old coach.

He has the option to live life as if he's still under the old regime.

But he doesn't have to. He's free from their power.

He has a new identity found under the fact that he's living under a new regime.

And it's a similar story with us.

When we become Christians, we go from being alive to sin, dead to God, to dead to sin, alive to God.

We switch regimes.

It doesn't mean that we all of a sudden stop being tempted,

all of a sudden never have any temptation to do anything wrong ever again,

and live these amazing, empowered lives.

It doesn't mean that our past and everything we've done no longer affects us,

but it means that we're living life under a new regime.

Sin can still call us up, to use the analogy.

Ask us to come along with it.

But it actually has no real control over us anymore.

We don't have to listen.

And just like it would be stupid for LeBron to go to the Cavs training camp

after becoming a member of the Heat,

because it reinforces a false identity,

when sin calls us up and says,

hey, why don't you change the numbers in the accounting

so that you can take a little extra home this weekend?

When sin says, why don't you disobey your parents

and play video games instead of cleaning your bedroom?

We have the option to listen to it,

but it would be stupid of us to,

because it reinforces this idea

that our identity is different than what it truly is.

And it robs us of this opportunity

to live life under our new, true identity.

It's actually in here, when it says,

a new life, in verse 4,

that phrase, a new life,

a better translation of it is,

I think what you have in your bulletins,

newness of life,

or a new life which actually is life.

The option that we have here isn't,

we're going from being alive to being alive differently.

What's this change that's happening is,

before we were living a parody of life.

We were living something that claimed to be life

and claimed to give life,

but it wasn't.

It was all a lie.

It was a facade,

put up to make everything look pretty.

But if we've become Christians,

we've been set free from that facade.

We've been set free from that parody

and called to live a life that is truly life.

So like I said,

what does this look like in our real lives?

Yeah, we'll still be tempted.

Sin doesn't want to give up that easily.

It's had control for far too long.

But when we're tempted,

we don't have to give in.

We don't have to listen.

We have the power to fight temptation when it comes.

And even more,

this new life means that when we fail,

when we do listen to our old master,

we actually have the power to carry on.

Here's what I mean.

Before,

when we're alive to sin,

everything that we do

is based on our own power.

How good can I be?

How much can I do to get to God?

Or,

how liberated can I be?

How much can I do to just be free?

Either way,

it's all dependent on us

and what we do.

And when we fail,

we are crushed.

If we're trying to be

that good person

who earns God's favor

and we mess up,

what does that lead to?

Oh no,

I'm so sorry.

I don't know if God can ever forgive me.

I can never be okay again.

We're crushed.

But when we have this new life,

when we have this transfer

from being under sin's regime

to being under God's regime,

there's this recognition

that we can never do it ourselves

and that's the point.

The point is,

we're messed up.

We need Jesus.

And because of that,

when we're under this new regime,

when we fail,

it still holds true.

We're messed up.

We need Jesus.

That's what gives us the strength

to carry on when we mess up.

So,

on a practical level,

say we're in the office this week.

Someone comes to you,

they say,

let's change some numbers here,

make millions more for the company,

you take a little extra commission home.

It's a real temptation.

You have the option to go along with it.

But you don't have to

because you've been set free

from the power of sin in your life.

Or if you're a kid,

your parents tell you,

go do your homework.

There's lots of options

for what you can do at this point.

You can throw a fit

and say,

no, I'm not going to do it.

You can go play video games.

You can go watch a movie.

You can go online

and search up Tumblr accounts

and look at Tumblr user pizza

and post stuff from their account

to yours and tag it.

But you don't have to.

You're free from that power

that's telling you

sin and disobedience

is what gives you strength in life.

And it's this new life.

It's this true life.

It's a life

that's not a parody anymore.

It's authentic life

that we have in Jesus.

And it calls us

to live radically different.

The third thing

I want us to see today

is in verse 11.

Paul says,

So you also

must consider yourselves

dead to sin

and alive to God

in Christ Jesus.

And the reason

we must consider ourselves

dead to sin

and alive to God

in Christ Jesus

is because

if we are Christians,

this is something

that is already

a reality for us.

I know that might sound confusing.

I'll explain what I mean.

There's this

New Testament scholar

named N.T. Wright

and he has a quote

on this verse.

He says,

this verse could sound

as though it's an opinion

that might yet be false.

So consider yourselves

dead to sin

and alive to God.

Might be true,

might be false,

but if you reinforce it

with positive thinking,

think it through hard enough,

you can convince yourself

that this is the fact

and this is the truth

and you can live in that truth.

Go positive thinking.

It looks like

that could be the case,

but what N.T. Wright says is

Paul intends it emphatically,

this fact that we're

dead to sin

and alive to God

in Jesus.

He intends it emphatically

as something that's

necessarily true

of all those in Christ.

Paul's not telling us

to consider this

because it might be true,

it might be false.

We need to convince ourselves

that it is true.

He says consider it

because it's already true.

Why do we need to consider it

if it's already true?

N.T. Wright continues,

it needs considering

because it's not

an obvious truth.

But once the sum

has been reckoned up,

it will appear to be

clearly the case.

The fact is,

if we are Christians,

we are dead to sin.

We are alive to God

in Christ Jesus.

But that's not something

that's staring us

in the face every day.

What's staring us

in the face every day?

Temptation.

A broken world.

The knowledge that we

ourselves are broken people.

the fact that we're

under a new regime,

the fact that we've

had this change

is not something

that is blatantly obvious

to us staring us

in the face.

But that doesn't mean

it's not true.

And so we need

to constantly remind ourselves

of the truth

of this fact

because if we don't

constantly remind ourselves,

we're going to forget it.

There's a pastor

in the States

named Bill Johnson.

He says,

we can't afford

to have thoughts

in our heads

about ourselves

that are in conflict

with what God

thinks about us.

God has given us

this glorious,

amazing,

powerful truth

in our lives.

We are dead to sin.

We're free

from its regime.

We are alive to God

in Jesus Christ.

It's not a matter

of opinion.

It's a fact.

But we still have

the option

to forget about it

and live as if it's not true.

But this is a powerful,

life-changing truth.

And if we decide

to believe something

about ourselves

and our identity now

that's different

than what God

actually says

is true about us,

we're going to rob

ourselves

of immense joy.

We're going to rob

ourselves

of life

that is truly life.

we're going to rob

ourselves

of freedom.

Our Christian lives

will be marked

by tragedy,

by a failure

to live up

to who God

wants us to be.

And that's why

Paul tells us

consider this

to be true.

You know,

if you look through

the entire book

of Romans,

this right here,

he spent five

and a half chapters

explaining to us

who we were before,

what God has done

for us.

And right here

in verse 11

of chapter 6

is the first time

in the entire book

of Romans

that Paul actually

gives us a command.

He's not saying,

think about this

as a way of earning

God's forgiveness,

as a way of earning

God's acceptance.

He's saying,

look at what God

has already done

for you.

Look how he saved us

when we were so messed up.

Look how he forgave us

when we had turned away

from him

for so long.

Look at what

he went through

to purchase

our salvation.

And only after

you've seen that,

only after you've

understood that,

can we properly

respond.

And the first step

to responding

is taking what's

true of us

and believing

that it's true of us

in our lives.

and what happens

in our lives

when we begin

to properly consider

what's true

of us already?

Let's jump back

to verse 4.

He says,

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.

He says we get to walk

in newness of life.

Now,

I do a lot of walking.

I don't know

about the rest of you.

I've done a lot

of walking in my life.

I've done a couple

hundred K hikes.

It is long.

It is exhausting.

And when I think

about a metaphor

for my Christian life,

walking in newness

of life is not

my ideal phrase.

For a lot of reasons.

Number one,

walking is slow.

I want fast progress

in my Christian life

and walking is slow.

You spend hours

and hours and hours

and you look back

and you're like,

that's the same mountain

I could see five hours ago.

It's frustratingly slow.

Also,

it's hard.

Yeah,

it can be easy

when you start out

but then you get hills

and you're carrying

heavy bags

and you think,

why can't I just be

sitting in a car

with the air conditioning on,

cranking out my favorite tunes,

relaxing.

No,

I'm walking.

I'm still walking.

I want a break

from walking

because it's hard.

It can be painful.

You can get sore muscles,

you can get blisters

and when you have

a destination to get to,

you can't just stop.

You have to get

to your destination.

You have to walk

through the pain.

Why would I want

to do that?

It's monotonous.

You get out

on hiking trails

and it's quiet

and there is

nothing happening

and even if you're

hiking with friends,

you can talk

for a couple hours

but after a while,

the conversation

sort of dies

and you're just walking

and it is so monotonous.

I don't want

my Christian life

to be marked

by monotony.

I want excitement

and it's just,

walking is inefficient

especially in Hong Kong.

You walk

and you're like,

oh,

I'm crossing a road here

and then you walk

for three more hours

and you're like,

I'm crossing another road.

That would have been

a five minute cab ride.

so inefficient.

When I think about

a metaphor

that I want to mark

my Christian life,

I think

riding a yacht

in newness of life.

Get to my destination,

lounge out in the sun,

jump in the water,

it does all the work,

I just am along

for the ride,

having fun

with my friends

as it's happening

or riding a Ferrari

in newness of life.

How fun would that be?

Right?

As long as I'm

in the driver's seat.

But that's not

the picture

that God gives us.

He says,

we're walking

in newness of life.

And there was one commentary

I looked at this week.

They said this phrase

that we too might walk

in newness of life.

Paul thought

that it was a good metaphor

for the steady,

unspectacular

progress

that should characterize

the Christian life.

As I thought about that,

it terrified me

how true

that is

of my Christian life.

Steady,

unspectacular progress.

If I'm being honest,

I want God

to work

in spectacular ways

in my life.

I want God

to do big,

amazing things

and have these

huge changes overnight

that all of a sudden

one day I was,

oh, miserable,

what's life all about

and the next day,

like, yeah,

and never look back.

That's what I want

in my Christian life.

That's not

how God

typically works.

It's unspectacular.

Most of the time,

I don't even see

the changes

that's happening.

But it's steady.

It's there.

If I look back

to yesterday,

I probably can't see

much difference

from today.

but if I look back

two years ago,

even two months ago,

I can see

that I've made progress.

I've gone somewhere.

I think this is something

that's characteristic

of each of us.

I mean,

even as much

as I want it

in my life,

I want it in the lives

of the teenagers

that I work with.

Right?

I want kids

to sit in church

and pay attention

and not talk

to their friends.

I want the kids

to be passionate

about reading

their Bibles.

I want the kids

to sit in church

and not be playing

on their phones.

I want the kids

to be excited

about telling

their friends

about Jesus.

And even if the kids

today aren't that

excited about it,

tomorrow I want them

to wake up

and have that excitement.

But really,

God works the same way

in their lives

as he does in mine.

Steady,

unspectacular progress.

from day to day,

I don't see much progress

in a lot of them.

But as I look back

over the years,

I can see God working

in a lot of their lives.

And I think

that's the case

for a lot of us,

that God doesn't just

give us these shortcuts,

but he's working

in our lives

because we're alive

in him.

We're dead to sin.

And so,

I want to leave us

with some questions

as we finish up today.

Some reflection thoughts

on this passage.

First up,

and this is foundational

to all the other questions

that I have,

am I still relying

on myself for salvation

rather than on Jesus?

Because the Bible says

this new life in Christ

is a gift that we get

from God.

It's not something

that we earn on our own.

And if we're still relying

on ourselves,

then the stuff

I've been talking about today,

the stuff about being

under a new regime,

it's not true of us yet.

And before we can live life

under this new regime,

we have to see

that we can't save ourselves.

We can't fix ourselves.

We need Jesus

to save us.

So the first thing

I want to ask us is,

are we still relying

on ourselves

for salvation,

or have we actually

trusted in Jesus

for that salvation

that we need?

Secondly,

if we are Christians,

are we using the fact

that we're saved

by faith,

not works,

and the fact

that God forgives us

for whatever we do wrong

as an excuse to sin?

Are we using

God's forgiveness

as an excuse

to continue in sin

in our lives?

And if so,

is it because

we don't properly

understand the change

that's taken place in us?

Or is it because

we're lying to ourselves

about the fact

that a change

has actually happened?

Third question,

what does it mean

in our lives

that we're dead to sin

and alive to Jesus?

Where are the areas

in our lives

that we see

the biggest impact

of this?

Is it at work

where we no longer

feel the pressure

to go along

with the boss

when he tells us

to do something wrong

because we're free

from needing

to prove ourselves

in that way?

Is it at school

where we no longer

feel the need

to go along

with peer pressure

because what other

people think of us

doesn't define us,

what God thinks of us

defines us?

Is it at home

where we're free

from finding our identity

and how successful

our kids are?

Where are the areas

of our lives

where we see

the biggest impact

of this regime change

in our lives?

What are the areas

in our lives

where sin

and temptation

keep calling us up

and asking us

to come back

under their power?

What are the areas

in our lives

each of us

has areas

that we're more

susceptible to

than others?

What are those areas

in our lives

where we keep

hearing that temptation,

where we keep

getting calls,

come back,

come back,

come back,

I miss you?

And when they come,

how are we fighting

against them?

And finally,

am I considering

myself

dead to sin

and alive to God

in Christ Jesus?

Is this command

that Paul gives

something that I'm

following and obeying

in my life?

If not,

why not?

And if so,

how do you see

that changing you?

Maybe you can't

see a difference

from yesterday

to today,

but if it's something

that's been going on

for any length of time,

how do you see

a transition

over that period

of time?

You know,

as we're here today,

the good news is

that each of us

here,

we're not saved

by what we do.

We're not saved

by our ability

to live as great Christians.

Our obedience to God

after we become Christians

doesn't save us

any more than

our obedience to God

could save us

before we were Christians.

Ultimately,

us becoming Christians,

us living as Christians,

it's all dependent

on Jesus.

It's all dependent

on God's grace,

all dependent

on God's forgiveness.

How good or bad

we are at living

out our Christian lives

doesn't change the fact

of whether we're saved

or not.

It doesn't change

the fact of whether

God loves us or not.

But what we see here

is there's this life,

there's this power,

there's this joy

that's available to us

because of the fact

that we're Christians.

And if we choose

to live

as if what's true

of us

isn't true,

and if we choose

to live as if

what's not true

of us is true,

we're robbing

ourselves of that joy.

We're robbing

ourselves of that power.

We're robbing

ourselves of the

opportunity to live

in the life

that is truly life.

So let's consider

ourselves dead to sin.

Not because it's

this lie that we need

to trick ourselves

into believing it's true,

but because if we're

Christians,

it's already true of us.

And let's consider

ourselves alive

to God

in Christ Jesus.

Because that is

the amazing promise

that God gives us,

that if we have

trusted in him,

that these things

are true of us already

and have the ability

to impact the way

that we live our lives

today.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you

for the gospel.

We thank you

for the fact

that there's nothing

that we can do

to earn your love,

but because of that,

there's nothing

that we have to do

to earn your love.

thank you for Jesus,

the perfect sacrifice

who came

and did for us

what we could not

do for ourselves.

For the fact

that he set us free,

that he gave us life

under a new regime,

a regime that is

powerful and life-giving

and joy-giving,

a regime that's

run by you.

God, I pray that

as we go throughout

our weeks this week,

that we would,

that we would consider

ourselves dead to sin

and alive to God

in Christ Jesus,

that we would take

these truths

and we would apply

them to our lives

and we would see

how you transform us

as we do that,

and that we wouldn't

trick ourselves

into just waiting

for spectacular things

from you,

but that we would see

signs of this steady,

unspectacular progress

as we walk with you.

Thank you for your love,

and in Jesus' name,

amen.