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Are you a Christian? These days, that question isn’t so simple, is it? Because all kinds of people call themselves Christians. Over the past couple of weeks, I have read reports about a “pastor” in the Netherlands who calls himself an atheist Christian. He says that God doesn’t exist, but he believes in God as a concept. In Seattle, an ordained Episcopal minister says that she is both Christian and Muslim. What a crazy world we live in. People saying that they are atheist-Christian. Other people saying they are Muslim-Christian. But is that any more crazy that all the people that you and I know personally who call themselves Christians? People who call themselves Christians who may have had an experience in the past… people who may have prayed a prayer or walked an aisle or even gotten wet… people who call themselves Christians, but live like there is no Christ. They live like Jesus died and stayed in the ground.
So, with all of the misuse of the name “Christian” that goes on in the world today… I think we need to spend some time on what the Bible has to say. Our passage this morning tells us that being a Christian means that you are in Christ. You haven’t just accepted Him. You haven’t just signed on to His program. You haven’t just given Jesus a try. Being a Christian means that you are in Christ. You have been purchased with his blood. You have been set aside as His. He has engaged in a hostile takeover and you have surrendered the kingdom of your life to His rule and dominion. You are in Christ—in His kingdom with Jesus as your Lord, and Master and King. Our passage this morning shows us that being in Christ means two things for you. Being in Christ means that you are dead to sin. And being in Christ means that you are alive to God. First, it means that you are dead to sin. Look at verses 1-7:
ROMANS 6:1-7
When you are in Christ, you are dead to sin.
You are dead to the presence of sin. Verse 3 brings up the picture of baptism. What a joy and privilege it was to celebrate the ordinance of baptism this morning. And the reason it is such a joy is because of what baptism is. There was nothing in that water this morning that had anything to do with saving them. There was nothing magical about it. Nothing in the water conveyed any kind of grace to them. But do you know what it did? It showed the world that they are in Christ. It showed the world that they publicly identified themselves with His death. They showed the world that just as Jesus publicly died on the cross, they are now dead to their old, sinful lives. And just as Jesus was raised again on the third day, they are raised to walk new lives in Him—in Christ. They are now dead to the presence of sin in their lives. In the first century, the people were very familiar with ceremonial washings. As a matter of fact, that’s what they thought of most when they saw a Christian being baptized. Until they were clued in to the picture of Jesus death, burial and resurrection, all they thought of was cleansing. Paul played on that when he wrote this text. He gave them the picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus… but he also related that picture to being cleansed from sin. When you are in Christ, you are cleansed from all sin. ALL sin—past, present and future sin. You are cleansed—forgiven. Your sins are cast as far as the east is from the west. They are washed, buried, planted, covered—never to be seen or heard from again. Jesus atoned for your sins on the cross. And when you are in Him, His blood covers them. Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
You are dead to the presence of sin and you are dead to the punishment for sin. The fact is that sin isn’t just “doing bad things.” It isn’t simply being naughty. You see, God is perfect. And as a perfect being, God requires perfection of His creation. Anything short of that perfection is offensive to Him. It doesn’t just make Him sad or disappointed. Anything short of perfection makes God eternally angry. He is offended. And an eternally angry, offended God is only satisfied by pouring out His all powerful, eternal wrath. He poured out His wrath on His Son on the cross at Calvary. For those of us who have seen the movie Passion of the Christ, those images are stunning. The pain and agony of Jesus is unimaginable. But the physical pain was just the tip of the iceberg. The physical agony was nothing when compared to the isolation and wrath Jesus experienced on the cross. When Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” it was then that He experienced the full wrath of the Father poured out on Him. And why did He have to experience the unimaginable wrath of God? So you and I wouldn’t have to. Jesus took the punishment for your sin. He took that punishment and endured that wrath for you. When you are in Him, your punishment has been satisfied. You are dead to the punishment for sin. You are dead to the presence of sin and you are dead to the punishment for sin. You are also dead to the power of sin.
Well, what does that mean? Does that mean that when a person becomes a Christian, that they all of a sudden become perfect? In a way, yes—in a way, no. You become perfect because your sins have been paid for. Your sins have been washed in the blood. Your sins have been covered and you have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. When you are in Christ, God sees Christ’s righteousness. But does that mean that we can go ahead and live a life that is full of sin? When Paul was talking about the wonderful grace of salvation, that’s the question he was asked. “Shall we continue in sin so that we can get more grace?” What was the answer that he gave in verse 2? He said God forbid! In the original language, Paul used the absolute strongest language he could to say that that wasn’t possible. He was saying that it is completely and totally unimaginable that a person who is in Christ will continue to live in sin. If you are in Christ, you can’t live in sin because you have died to it. But you and I both know that we continue to sin. We will always struggle with sin. We are fallen people living in a fallen world. We were born sinners, and we continue in sin every day. The difference is the struggle. Even though I continue to have pride in my life, I wrestle with it daily. I wrestle with it daily, because I am dead to it. A Christian doesn’t willingly, purposely continue in sin because he is dead to it. You cannot continually, willingly, purposely live in sin and live in Christ at the same time. Because when you live in Christ, you are dead to sin. Your old life of sin was killed. And it wasn’t a pretty death. Just as Jesus was violently killed on the cross, you have been planted together in the likeness of His death. That means that the death of sin in your life is violent. What does verse 6 say? “Your old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.” Why? “That henceforth we should not serve sin.” Even though we will continue to struggle with sin… it’s exactly that… it’s a struggle. It’s a struggle because when you are in Christ, you serve Him. And when you serve Him, you cannot serve sin. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters, either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Jesus died to pay for your sin and He lives again to give you power over that sin in your life. He gives you life and life more abundantly—not with material abundance, but with abundant freedom and power over the bondage of sin.
What does it mean to be a Christian? It means that you are in Christ. And when you are in Christ you are dead to sin. You are dead to the presence of sin. You are dead to the punishment for sin. And you are dead to the power of sin. But that’s not all it means to be in Christ. Because when you are in Christ, you are not only dead to sin, you are alive to God. Look at verses 8-11:
ROMANS 6:8-11
When you are in Christ, you are alive to God.
Earlier, when we saw that family come up out of that water, we saw a symbol. We saw a symbol of how they are raised to walk a new life in Christ. Isn’t that what verse 8 says? “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” Being in Christ isn’t just about His death. Otherwise, the best thing we would have is Good Friday. But that’s not the best thing we have. We aren’t left with weeping over the cross. We’re left with rejoicing over the empty tomb. The best thing we have is Easter. Because Easter says that Jesus is alive! And because Jesus is alive, when you are in Him, you are alive as well.
You are alive to past reconciliation. Every single one of us in here has a past. And no matter what the “good old days” memories say, most of us have bad things in our past. Things we don’t like to remember. Things we would like to forget if we could. We have broken relationships. We have things that have hurt us. Some people physically. Most people emotionally. We also have people that we have hurt. Each of us have done things in the past that have hurt other people. Many times those hurts run deep. They run deep and even grow into bitterness and anger and resentment. But when you are in Christ, they don’t have to be. You are alive to past reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” In Christ, God has reconciled us to Himself. In other words, if you are in Christ, your relationship with God has been restored. All of the things that you have done to offend and hurt God have been put to death. All of the ways you’ve dragged His holy name through the mud have been buried. All of those things have passed away and your relationship has been made completely new. Like nothing ever happened. Do you know what that means? It means that the same thing happens with your own past. Because Jesus has reconciled you to God, you are now committed to the word of reconciliation. In other words, all of those past hurts and pains and bitterness and anger and resentment are passed away. When Jesus provided a way for you to be reconciled to God, He provided the same way for you to be reconciled to the offenses of your past. ALL things are become new. That means that when you are in Christ, you are alive to past reconciliation. You are also alive to present fullness.
You are alive to past reconciliation and you are alive to present fullness. Verse 8 says that if we are dead with Christ, we shall also live with Him. Being in Christ isn’t simply about being in heaven. It isn’t about just giving you a reservation for a nice place to go when you die. It’s about giving you life. Real life—true life. In John 10:10, Jesus said that He came to give you life. But He wasn’t just talking about eternal life in heaven. Yes, that’s a big part of it. But Jesus went on to say that He came to give life more abundantly. He’s talking about your life today. If being a Christian was only about going to heaven, then we would all die as soon as we trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior. But when Jesus saves you, He saves you in order that you might live abundantly. Not in the way that some of these TV preachers tell us. They tell us that it’s all about material things. They say it’s all about health and wealth and prosperity. Well, they’re wrong. Because the abundant life of being in Christ is a life of peace. It’s a life of contentment. No matter what the circumstances are. No matter what life has to throw at you, living in Christ is a life of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control). When you are in Christ, you are alive! You are alive to the rich fullness and abundance that only comes from a living Savior and Lord. You are alive to past reconciliation, you are alive to present fullness. You are also alive to future glory.
I said that being in Christ isn’t all about going to heaven, but it is a big part of it. As a matter of fact, it’s an everlasting part of it. It’s a part that will never end. Verse 9 says that because Jesus rose again on that first Easter morning, He conquered death. Death has no more dominion over Him. By one man Adam, death entered the world. By one man Jesus, death was defeated. And because of Jesus victory over death, we can ask the question with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” and we can give the same answer that he did, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you are in Christ, you are alive to future glory. Not a glory where you get to fish all the time or play baseball all the time. What a pitiful glory that would be. No, our future glory will be to forever be in the presence of the one who created us. To be forever in the presence of the one who sustains us. To be forever in the presence of the one who loves us enough that He died for us. Forever in the presence of the one who will live forever with us, in us, and with us in Him.
Are you in Christ this morning? I’m not asking if you call yourself a Christian. Over 80% of people in this country call themselves Christians. You can call yourself anything you want to—that doesn’t really mean anything. Are you in Christ? Are you dead to sin this morning? Are you dead to sin’s presence? Are you dead to sin’s punishment? Are you dead to sin’s power? Are you alive to God? Are you alive to past reconciliation or are you full of anger and bitterness and hurt and strife? Are you alive to present fullness? Are you living in the fullness of all that Jesus has for you? Are you alive to future glory? Being a Christian is much more than wearing a label. Being a Christian is about believing that Jesus is who He said He is and that He did what He said He did. It’s about believing Him enough to surrender your life to His control. You can be in Christ today, because the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. He paid the price. He lives today. Will you surrender to Him?
