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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 21, 2007 “Living by Dying” |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday, January 21, 2007 by Don Kress
Romans 6:4-8
“That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered
into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the
water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a
light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our
new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of
life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable
life – no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is
this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get
included in his life-saving resurrection.” (The Message)
I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy country western music. One of my favorite songs a couple years ago was one by Tim McGraw. It was about his father, Tug McGraw, a famous major league baseball pitcher who had to give up the game when he developed cancer. The song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” tells of his father’s reaction to getting the news about his cancer, and how that news changed his life. The words to the chorus are: “He said, ‘I went sky diving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fumanchu. And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.’ And he said, ‘One day I hope you get a chance to live like you were dying.’” Powerful words, indeed.
Paul uses even more powerful words in today’s selected text. He reminds us that we were buried with Christ and that we have been resurrected with Christ; and now we must walk in new life. In other words, Paul calls us to live like we had been dead, but are now alive! In this past Friday’s “Frontline Devotion,” Mike Martine cited Paul’s message to the Galatians of, “You’re different now!” That’s Paul’s message to us in today’s text, too: You died with Christ and you were resurrected with Christ, and you’re different now! So act differently.
Allow me to introduce two terms with which we Christians
should become familiar: “justification” and “sanctification.”
Justification is an act; sanctification is a work. Justification took
place the moment each of us confessed our belief in Christ Jesus. At that
instant we were declared righteous; the guilt of our sin was removed. But
that instantaneous justification, while removing the penalty of sin, did not
remove the power of sin in our life. Removing the power of sin in our
day-to-day lives is the lifelong process of sanctification. Justification
is the nailing of our old way of life to the cross and taking it to the grave.
Sanctification is living our new life and not responding to sin’s daily beck
and call. Sanctification is acting differently; it’s walking the walk of
one who professes Christ, not just talking the talk.
While I quoted “The Message” above for today’s text, the “Revised Standard Version” uses the following language for verse four: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” This passage says we are to “walk” in newness of life, not “talk” about newness of life. Walking requires effort. It’s a means of proceeding from one point to another, presupposing that we have a destination in mind. It requires voluntary action that we must do for ourselves. Walking is good for us! Sanctification is a way of walking, not a way of talking. Sanctification is not living like we were dying; it’s living by dying!
It’s not easy, this process of sanctification. Gary Shaffer spoke to the difficulty in yesterday’s devotion. But it is what we’re called to do with the new life we received when we accepted Christ’s gift of forgiveness. We are called to leave behind our shabby record of continued failure, and to begin discovering for ourselves the true meaning of the gift of God. This new life must be radically different from the old; it’s a life in which sin is to have no place. How about it: are you walking the walk, or just talking the talk?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, Thank you for allowing my sins to be nailed with you to the Cross, and for taking them to the grave with you. Thank you for the newness of life I have through your resurrection. Be with me in my daily walk of sanctification. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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