We live in a rapidly changing world. It’s crazy to think that my grandparents grew up in homes without electricity or indoor plumbing. My parents can remember when most homes had no television. I can remember when I was driving and had to make a phone call and had to find a phone booth. Do you remember those things? You put money in the slot for a short conversation. I tell that to my kids, and they say, “What’s a phone booth?”
The point is, things are changing fast, but many of us are not changing– Christians, I mean. I could give you a bunch of statistics to reinforce this, but I always hate to infuse math into your morning devotions. So trust me when I say: Statistics show that a great many of us Christians are indiscernible from non-Christians. We have the same goals; we have the same level of happiness; we struggle with the same things.
Which begs the question: how is that possible? God is a transforming God (See 2 Corinthians 5:17, at the top of the page). God is a transforming God. When He gets ahold of someone, He changes them. The problem is, many of us don’t want the same kind of change for ourselves that God wants for us. Does that make sense? We want God to tweak us and improve us and give us inner peace. God, on the other hand, wants to do something radical...
So instead of surrendering ourselves to God and letting God change us, lots of us try to do the work ourselves. And our idea of work isn’t as much “transformation” as it is “redecorating.”
“How can I spruce myself up? I’ll add some semi-regular Church attendance over here, and maybe a splash of devotional reading over here. And I’m really proud of the service projects I’ve incorporated throughout the house. They add a nice touch, don’t you think?”
We like that approach because it looks good, and it doesn’t cost much. Plus, it can be slow. We can say things like, “Well, hopefully by this time next year, I’ll be a little better than I was this year.” That’s change, right?
Well, it is... but that’s not the “old- has-passed-away, new-has-come” transformational change Christ is looking for! He’s not in the redecorating business – those kinds of goals are too small for Him. While you’re busy trying to figure out how to redecorate your life and make yourself behave like a Christian, God has something more drastic, in mind – a new identity, a new name, a new reality. While you’re focused on what a Christian should look like and should do, God is zeroed in on who a Christian must become.
Many of you have been baptized. If you haven’t taken that step yet, (I hope you will soon) – but you’ve probably seen it. It paints a picture. When you are baptized, you go under the water. That pictures identification with the death of Jesus. He died and was buried, and likewise, the old me dies and is buried with Him. And when you rise up from the water, you identify with His resurrection. He rose again, and so do I, a new creation in Him.
The picture of baptism is unity with Christ. That’s the word Paul uses in Romans 6:5 – We are “united with Him.” In the Greek, that’s actually an agricultural word. It means we’ve been engrafted into the root. We have been inserted into the very roots of His life. Jesus’ past is now our past. Jesus’ future is now our future. You died in Him. You rose in Him. You’re seated at the right hand of God in Him. You are one with Him.
So why do you and I still struggle so much with sin? Think about it like this: Imagine that you are a big, beautiful oak tree in a meadow, planted about 30 years ago. Imagine that a vine has grown up around the trunk and branches. The vine is everywhere, and it represents sin. When you came to Christ, it’s like God took an ax and chopped the base of the vine. The vine is dead; the sin in your life is dead. It no longer has power. It can’t control you like it did...
But you have to spend the rest of your life ripping all the vines out of the tree. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Some of you might be thinking, I’ve always had these vines. That’s the way I am; that’s why Christ forgave me.
Jesus didn’t just want to forgive you; he wants to tear all that out of you and change who you are and who you appear to be to others. The power of sin is broken. It can’t condemn you. It can’t dominate you anymore. It only has the control you give it.
(Continue to read below)