Friday July 18, 2014

Read: Romans 6:11-13, Matthew 5:27-30

What does it look like to die to sin? It is one thing to talk about that fact that we have died with Christ and the power of sin is broken in our lives. It is another thing to talk about what that practically looks like as we seek to live out our faith. Thankfully we aren’t left to guess, Paul tells us exactly what it looks like for us to die to sin and live to God in verses 12 to 13.

Firstly, we should not let sin reign in our bodies. We might be tempted to sarcastically thank Paul for his extremely obvious statement. Don’t sin, that’s original. But this is far more than Paul just saying “don’t sin.” Paul is saying that we should not allow sin to reign in our bodies, in our lives and in our hearts like it did before we were in Christ. We cannot go back to letting it own us. We are not to just allow sin unrestrained to rule over us and submit ourselves to it so that we just obey its evil desires.

To allow sin to reign over us is like willingly going back to the terrible slave master of sin and death when we have been freed from it. It is to willingly subject ourselves to that which Christ died to free us from. It is to go back to the way things were before, before Christ died and before we died with Him. Imagine the horribly abused and beaten slave who has been freed and yet willingly goes back to his terrible master. Imagine the rescued kidnap victim who willingly goes back to their kidnapper. That is what it is like when we willingly subject ourselves again to sin.

How do we avoid subjecting ourselves to the reign of sin? We fight it. With every ounce of Holy Spirit empowered energy and effort we have we do everything we can to battle against sin in our lives. That is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5 when He talks about cutting off hands and plucking out eyes. He’s not advocating cutting off body parts. He’s talking about using every energy and effort to destroy sin in our lives. He’s talking about taking sin so seriously that we are willing to do whatever it takes, no matter how radical, in order to defeat it. This is about declaring all out war on any scrap of sin in our lives.

This was the approach of Jonathan Edwards, the American theologian, when he made 70 resolutions about how he would live his Christian life. Resolution number 56 read: “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.” Edwards understood the words of Jesus and Paul and resolved to give his all in the fight against sin in his life, no matter whether he was winning or losing. The key for Edwards is that he would never give up but would always fight with every ounce of his effort and energy.

We too ought to fight sin in our lives. We are to use every ounce and scrap of our energy to fight against sin. We are to pray that God would reveal it wherever it is in our lives so that we might destroy it. We are to do whatever it takes to eliminate sin. We can live this kind of life because we know that Christ has already defeated the power of sin once and for all and He enables and empowers us to fight through the Holy Spirit. Let’s get fighting.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would be at work in your heart to grow in you a hatred for sin and a desire for righteousness. Pray that He would enable you to fight sin with everything you have.

¥ Pray that God would be working in the same way in all in your congregation

 Walk Moment:

Fighting sin isn’t something that Christians need to do alone. Christian community is vital for the fight against sin and for striving for holiness. If you don’t have a community of believers around you to help find them today!

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What sort of Matthew 5 style radical measures do you think could be taken by a believer against the following sins:

                 - Gossip

                 - Unforgiveness

                 - Anger

                 - Sexual Immorality

                 - Pride

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro: When a king or a queen reigns it means that they sit on the throne and rule the whole kingdom.
Share: A story that you know about a king or a queen who reigned over a kingdom. What did that mean for the kingdom?
Read: Romans 6:12. Paul tells us not to let sin reign or rule over us. What is sin? Would sin be a good ruler or a bad ruler? Why do you think we shouldn’t let sin rule over us? What would it look like if sin ruled over us? What could you do to not let sin rule over you? Who could help you with this?
Pray Together: Thank God that He has freed us from the power of sin. Pray that He would help us not let sin rule.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro: When a king or a queen reigns it means that they sit on the throne and rule the whole kingdom.
Share: A story that you know about a king or a queen who reigned over a kingdom. What did that mean for the kingdom?
Read: Romans 6:12. Paul tells us not to let sin reign or rule over us. What is sin? Would sin be a good ruler or a bad ruler? Why do you think we shouldn’t let sin rule over us? What would it look like if sin ruled over us? What could you do to not let sin rule over you? Who could help you with this?
Pray Together: Thank God that He has freed us from the power of sin. Pray that He would help us not let sin rule.